Wednesday, March 22, 2017

BEWARE OF THE SYMPTOMS: LUNG CANCER

                  


Lung cancer goes hand in hand with excessive air pollution and unhealthy habits like smoking. 

           

Following are some of the symptoms of lung cancer which can be detected at an early stage and become severe as the stage advances:


1. COUGHING: Persistent and continuous coughing along with some pain.
                                          


2. COUGHING UP BLOOD: Presence of blood in coughs or rust colored spit or phlegm.
                                         
                   
3. BREATHING DIFFICULTIES: Signs like shortness of breath, wheezing or noisy and laboured breathing
                            


4. FATIGUE: Excessive tiredness or lack of energy and feeling of weakness. In advance stages, it can also take the form of headaches, dizziness or weakness or numbness in limbs.
                         


5.  RECURRING INFECTIONS: Recurrent lung infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. Jaundice can also be a symptom.
                                   


6. LUMPS: They can be present in neck or collar bone region.
                   


7. LOSS OF APPETITE: Lack of nutrition intake as well as unintended weight loss
                         
             
8. SWELLING OF BODY: Especially of face, legs and neck. There can also be feeling of pain in bones as well as chest.
                       


9. VOICE CHANGE: It becomes hoarser or harsher.
                     



10. NEUROLOGICAL  SYMPTOMS: These include unsteady gaiety and memory loss.
                         




 

Thanks for reading and please keep visiting our blog to discover and appreciate more Yoddhas. 
Feel free to contact the Yoddhas team at team@yoddhas.com 
Lastly,

Praise the Yoddhas; Support the Yoddhas ; Love the Yoddhas!


Cheers!


Author- Diksha Kakkar
(Yoddhas Ambassador)


Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Tata Memorial Hospital - The User Guide

Tata Memorial Hospital - The User Guide
Aim: The aim of this document is to produce a guide for the cancer patient and their relatives who are willing to get treatment or taking the treatment from Tata Memorial Hospital. 
Scope: This document is strictly related to Cancer disease,  and documentation will be limited to Tata Memorial Hospital. No other person / organization / disease or any other entity is relevant to this document.  
Objective: To provide a guide to the cancer patient and their relative and make their journey easy in Tata Memorial Hospital.

Disclaimer: 
This document is strictly created to help out Cancer patients and their relatives. There is no commercial benefit to anybody and we are not creating it for getting benefits out of it. Moreover, No person / any member of Tata Memorial Hospital / the organization - Tata Memorial Hospital is directly involved in this activity. This document is purely created by documenting experience of patients who are getting treatment from the Tata Memorial Hospital. Being this as a volunteering activity anybody can be contribute to this document by becoming member of the group. 

Table of Content
AddressDr. E Borges Road, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400012
Phone022 2417 7000

Introduction
Dear all, I believe we are battling with Cancer either being a  patient / a relative / a friend / a volunteer. Scenario changes person to person. This is war against the inevitable and we are trying to help out our dear ones to fight against it on our level. When we are contributing at our level, how we could forget the immense contribution by each individual of Tata Memorial Hospital. They are the spirit and we need to follow them and their spirit. As they are helping us out to fight our own battles, I believe that it is my duty to help every possible member by introducing Tata Memorial Hospital and their process. So, we are creating this document to help cancer patients and their relatives to smooth their process while getting treatment in Tata Memorial Hospital

I would say, this is just not merely a hospital, it is a temple. The temple, where every contributor contributes to their best to fight against the Cancer. Great staff, help desk, even security and medical facilities. Everyone there is quite aware of the process so getting help in this temple is not a big deal. But just documenting all the process and other things, we are trying to produce more help. So, its my sincere appeal to contribute to document all this and help us to improvement this document.

Registration process
When we are dealing with some medical issues, registration process is the very first step. But when we are dealing with something like Cancer, due to the fear of inevitable, the unbearable pain this process becomes somewhat painful to patient. But at the same time we need to understand the situation by being in the shoes of some one as from Tata Memorial Hospitals Authority. Without any information no medical institute or organization can help us out. So, when we want proper treatment and care for which Tata Memorial Hospital is known for, they need the details of the patient. In this case what we can do? How we can simplify this process and help ourselves as well as hospital? We just need to get registered to Tata Memorial Hospital. Then they take care of all things. For which they simplified this process as follows.
Registration
To get registered at Tata Memorial Hospital, there are two ways, which are as follows.
Step #1A: Online Registration
To register online we need to fill up the form provided by TMH. The form is available here - click me (https://tmc.gov.in/m_registration/NewRegistration/newRegAppln). Here we need to provide basic contact details, address (current and permanent), Adhar card details - must have thing, and expected visit date. This saves your lot of time. We need to go there and fill details by waiting in queue, provide all the details. This also helps out TMH authority to get things done quickly. We need to to note the registration number which is then share to you on provided email address and take the print out of the registration form.

Or
Step #1B: Offline registration
TBD
Step #2: Collect token from the help desk - Center Round Table, First Floor, Homi Bhabha Block.
Once you complete the registration process, then visit the Inquiry Desk of Center Round Table of Homi Bhabha Block (HBB) on first floor. Provide your temporary registration number at help desk. They will provide your the token by filling up some details like temporary registration number and allocate you one token. Take this token which mentioned on the form and visit counter suggested at help desk. This counter will be either 125 or 126 or 127 for further registration process and confirm registration.
Step #3: Confirm registration
On the allocated counter (125 / 126 / 127), the LED display shows the current allocated token. When It displays your token number and / or you get called with token number, visit the respective counter. At this point patient should be with you. They first verify all the details, in case, you have registered online. Asks for the category - General / Private. 
General is for people who are not from economical sound back ground. 
Private is for those who are capable and willing to pay for their treatment. When you choose private, you need to pay 10,000 as initial amount. The payment is possible in cash / cheque / credit card / debit card. Then they take a photograph of patient with web cam and smart card is produced. Along with smart card they also provide file having registration number on the file. The smart card contains patient information like registration details, payment details, etc. So wherever you go, you have to carry the smart card. There onwards, the executive guides you to the OPD for initial examination. And from that point of time your journey starts.

Do let us know if we could add any more details. Document complied by - Renukadas Joshi

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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

A TO Z OF FINANCIAL HELP FOR A CANCER PATIENT SEEKING TREATMENT FUNDS

             

Cancer treatment can be expensive which usually deters people from either following or completing their treatment plans. The bills usually tend to run so high that they become an added source of pressure on the already emotionally stressed out and anxious people. This article aims to provide guidance as to how to organise your finances, types of costs that can crop up and ways to seek treatment funds.

IDENTIFYING COSTS: 

Cancer treatment includes medical costs like doctor’s appointments, treatment, medication etc. Various non-medical or hidden expenditure includes travel, financial issues of a family or loss of employment. It might be helpful to group the various costs according to your needs and budget. The overall cost of treatment would depend on various personal factors like the kind of cancer one has, the type of treatment needed, health insurance coverage and where you will be treated. 


          

All this might seem a bit overwhelming. However, there are various national and local organisations which can provide financial assistance to patients facing financial difficulties.


 GOVERNMENT POLICIES:  


1) PRIME MINISTER’S NATIONAL RELIEF FUND ( PMNRF) : 

                            

Started by former PM Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948 to help families of major natural disasters and riots. However, they also provide medical assistance for cancer treatment. Funds are provided by PM or multiple delegates for national cause. A person can apply online and even check the hospitals covered under the fund on the PMNRF website. The approval of the application depends solely on the discretion of the PM.

 Website link: https://www.pmnrf.gov.in/contactus.php


2) MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE: 

                      

Under the schemes of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi ( RAN) and State Illness Assistance Funds (SAIF), government provides financial assistance for families below poverty lines . The assistance is provided only for treatment in government hospitals, list of which is available online. Cases of estimates above 1.50 lakh are referred to RAN by the State Government.

There’s also a closure for Income Tax Relief for Cancer Patient. The form for the same is available online. ( http://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/Rules/Income-Tax%20Rules/103120000000007232.htm )

3) CHIEF MINISTER’S RELIEF FUNDS:

                

It is provided by states that have opted for SAIF. However, this excludes states of Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

NON GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS: There are NGOs in India which have been raising funds for treatment of cancer patients. Some of these are also dedicated towards providing assistance for specific cancer, for example breast cancer. Most of them have a holistic approach as to the treatment and rehabilitation. Some of these NGO are CPAA India, HelpAge India, and India Cancer Society etc.  Crowd funding by various starts-ups has also picked up who make use of social media to raise funds for cancer patients.

LINKS: http://www.indiancancersociety.org/activities-ics/cancer-cure-fund.aspx
https://milaap.org/

https://www.ketto.org/


To avail any of the above mentioned schemes, a patient needs medical reports, ID Proofs and passport size photographs.  





Thanks for reading and please keep visiting our blog to discover and appreciate more Yoddhas. 
Feel free to contact the Yoddhas team at team@yoddhas.com 
Lastly,

Praise the Yoddhas; Support the Yoddhas ; Love the Yoddhas!


Cheers!


Author- Diksha Kakkar
(Yoddhas Ambassador)