Reaching out to cancer patients

Cancer patients being treated at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru, who find it difficult to pay the hospital bills are approached by members of RAC BMS College of Engineering, RID 3191, and “after doing a quick background check and consulting the doctors, we clear all their pending bills,” said Vinit Jain, club president

Under Project Give for Good, a team of 80 Rotaractors led by three project chairs do all the field work, verify the economic status of the patients’ families, and settle the bills without any fuss.

With the help of three admin staff at the Kidwai hospital, “we get a list of BPL families whose near and dear ones are being treated at this cancer institute. They forward details of their families, including their addresses and phone numbers. Our team visit the families, enquire with them, and if they are genuinely not able to pay the medical bills due to dire financial status, then we will settle the pending amount at the ­hospital,” explained Jain. The Rotaractors make sure the money is used for the intended purpose with the help of the friendly staff at the hospital. Over the last two years, the medical project led by Jain, Rtrs Pavithra and Varsha has touched the lives of 37 patients.

Another legacy project is iTeach wherein 25 Rotaractors go to Kanaka High School, Basavanagudi, on weekdays to teach students from Class 1–5 basic literacy skills including ­writing, reading English, doing simple arithmetic, understanding ­science, and hands-on training in simple arts like painting and drawing. “For the ­phase-19, we have sought permission from principals of few government schools for extending our iTeach to their students. While we have scheduled the project for September, it will take at least 2–3 months to complete a phase with the support of our team members.” Over the last 10 years, the literacy ­project would have benefitted 1,300 primary students of government schools, he said.

Career counselling

In a new initiative, the club will be taking up career counselling sessions at six government schools for students from Class 8–10. “We are in talks with the school principals and teachers to work out the modalities of the new school project for which 30 Rotaractors will be trained so that they can hold classes on different avenues for career growth for the students,” said Jain.

Doing his third year BE (­Artificial Intelligence and Machine ­Learning), he wanted to join Rotary as soon as possible. “Joining ­Rotaract two years ago is a turning point in my life as I have built a huge network of friends, which helped me to serve the society.”

This Rotaract club is sponsored by RC Bangalore Banashankari, and “I will be working more to foster great bonding between Rotarians and Rotaractors of our club,” smiled Jain. He is also geared up for the challenge of holding club meetings regularly without fail, which are held twice a month, one of which is through online. “We have to inform all our 500-plus members well in advance and plan the schedule in between our academic pursuit which is tough with regular exams and assignments,” he added.