AccessLife MAHE, Manipal Centre inaugurated
The Center provides free accommodation, nutrition, counseling, education support services to children with cancer and their caregivers
- A joint venture of Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, MAHE Manipal, and Accesslife
- Two residential quarters close to the hospital and Access Life Assistance Foundation renovated
- A hygienic accommodation that can host 12 families at any given time
Manipal, April 30, 2022: Kasturba Medical College and Kasturba Hospital, Manipal in association with the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology inaugurated AccessLife MAHE, Manipal Center today.
The Center, ‘Home away from Home’ for children with cancer and their caregivers, provides free accommodation, nutrition, counseling, and education support services for them.
This is a joint venture of Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, MAHE Manipal, and Accesslife.
Dr. Ranjan R Pai, Chairman, Manipal Education, and Medical Group (MEMG) inaugurated the center. Girish Nair, Founder and Chairman, Ankeet Dave, Co-Founder, and Executive Director- AccessLife Assistance Foundation, Lt Gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh, Vice-Chancellor, MAHE were the guests of honor. Dr. H S Ballal, Pro-Chancellor, MAHE presided over the program.
In his address, Dr. Ranjan R Pai defined the center as one of its kind and as the first “home away from home” concept in Karnataka.
“It provides holistic care to children and their caregivers belonging to lower socio-economic strata during the cancer treatment. The center also provides an avenue for a lot of volunteers from this region to step up and engage themselves with these children and families to make their journey through cancer treatment more pleasant,” he said.
Ankeet Dave said that his organization was delighted to start the new center in Manipal in association with MAHE.
“We are pleased that we will not only be able to support all the treating doctors, paramedical team, and families but our extension to Manipal, Karnataka will also allow us to spread awareness on childhood cancer,” he opined.
Lt Gen (Dr) M D Venkatesh congratulated the teamwork.
He said that MAHE had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with this foundation as more than 2/3rd of children with cancer taking treatment in the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology of Kasturba Hospital were from rural interiors of Karnataka.
MAHE provided two residential quarters close to the hospital and Access Life Assistance Foundation renovated it and made it into a hygienic accommodation that can host 12 families at any given time.
Dr. H S Ballal, Pro-Chancellor said that the center aims at reducing treatment abandonment and refusal by the caregivers due to financial and social reasons by providing these facilities.
All these facilities come at no extra cost to the patient and the operational cost for the center would be borne largely by the Access Life Assistance Foundation.
AccessLife MAHE, Manipal Center is located opposite Energy Cell, near BQ road, Madhavanagar, Manipal. Access Life Assistance Foundation, India is a Non-profit organization registered company, providing multi-disciplinary supportive care to families who come to the cancer center for their child’s cancer treatment.
They offer accommodation, a hygienic environment, nutritional meals, counseling, recreational and educational support, both for the children and their parents during the entire duration of treatment which goes to the duration of 3-6 months and sometimes even a year.
