Mhada to handover flats to Tata cancer hospital

Mumbai: A sigh of relief for patients who are undergoing treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel! In order to accommodate patients and their relatives, Mhada very soon shall give 200 flats to the hospital.

It becomes very difficult and the patients and the ones accompanying them to find shelter. Even if they manage to house themselves, they need to shell out an extra amount as there are very few budget-friendly hotels or housing units in the area.

According to the Housing department officials, each flat is of 350sqft to 400sqft and is priced at Rs 1 crore in the open market.

Jitendra Awhad, the housing minister reported that Mhada shall hand over the flats.

He further added, “This will be done in a phased manner. We are yet to have a discussion on this with the Tata Memorial Hospital authorities, but we will have an agreement with them. They will manage the booking of the flats and the maintenance. We will hand over some flats in the next month. This will prevent patients from sleeping on pavements and spending money on private hotels”.

According to the officials, maximum of the flats were housed in areas such as Parel, Lalbaug, Kalachowki, Byculla and Sewri in Central Mumbai.

Awhad stated, “We will reach out to the hospital management and hand over the flats in a phased manner. The hospital will decide on the allotment based on the patient’s condition, hospitalization period and other medical criterion”.

In January 2020, many patients and their relatives were shifted from under the Hindmata flyover in Parel. Deviod of any feasible accommodation, every kind of patients including women who had been operated for breast cancer, men who had been operated for oral cancer, beneficiaries of bone marrow transplants and some waiting to undergo a surgery for cervical cancer, all found shelter under a flyover.

Since the patients travel from different states, they cant get back home. They are bound to stay back in Mumbai as they are required to undergo checkups every week or every fortnight. Travelling back home and then going for the checkups is next to impossible. They are so poor that paying Rs100 per day at the dharmashalas becomes really heavy on their pockets.

There is a long waiting list for free accommodation that are either arranged by the hospital or by the charitable trusts.

Tata Memorial Hospital is one of the largest institutes in India for the treatment of cancer and witnesses a number of 65,000 new cancer survivors per year. 4,50,000 cancer patients arrive at this hospital every year for their routine checkups.

Currently, there are five dharmashalas that provide shelter to the cancer warriors who come here for treatment every year.