•ACTREC of TMC is an autonomous institution under the central government and is involved in patient care, research, and education in cancer with a mandate to provide subsidised care to 60% of its patients from the economically weaker sections of society.

•Being a premier institution for cancer care, patients come to ACTREC from all over the country and require to stay in Mumbai for sometimes a prolonged period for their treatment. Out of 44941 total registered patients in 2022, 38746 (86.2%) were outstation patients not having residential support in the city. 

•ACTREC had a patient hostel for 80 patients with a self-cooking facility. As the center was on the cusp of major expansion from 130 to 900 beds, a new hostel with 260 rooms, 40 dormitory beds, and a cafeteria for dining was built with philanthropic support. On shifting to the new hostel, patients were required to change from self-cooking to enrolling in centre-run mess to meet their dietary needs. 

•Though the diets were priced at cost, feedback from the hostel inmates within a month has made it evident to the management that patients (with one caregiver) were finding it difficult to financially sustain the mess bill, especially for a prolonged stay.

•As infrastructure constraints did not permit going back to the self-cooking mode, management was faced with the challenge of how to make the patient's diet much more affordable or free without any compromise on quality or nutritional requirements.

•The management decided to take up the challenge to implement a free food program for hostel inmates with sufficient fundraising for long-term sustenance.

 

METHODS

 

Tight cost control:

Fund raising strategies

 

CONCLUSION