Cancer survivors meet Modi in Chennai

Nine children got to spend 10 minutes with the Prime Minister during his visit to Chennai recently

Nine children, who recovered from leukaemia, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Chennai recently.

The children, beneficiaries of the Ray of Light Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that has been supporting treatment of children with cancer for the past 20 years, got to interact with the Prime Minister in the green room of the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium where he had come to inaugurate the fourth edition of the International Chess Olympiad last week.

“He spent close to 10 minutes with the children. It was just to meet and greet the Prime Minister,” said the foundation’s founder-trustee Priya Ramachandran.

“We have more than 210 children. He was very kind and spoke to each one of them. The children did not know Hindi so I translated his questions,” she said.

The meeting was organised to emphasise that childhood cancer is curable. Some parents had abandoned their children or taken their life after learning the diagnosis. “All the children we took (to meet the Prime Minister) had been cured for over five years. Their ages ranged from 6 to 14,” Dr. Priya, who is also the paediatric oncologist at Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital, said.

The Prime Minister, according to her, pointed out that under Ayushman Bharat treatment of all diseases were covered.

Dr. Priya said according to the World Health Organisation in low and middle income countries, treatment outcome for paediatric cancers is only around 20-40% whereas as much as 85% of children supported by their NGOs survive. According to her, the survival rate is on a par with developed countries. “Each child is living proof that cancer is curable,” she said.