Tata hospital mulls taking stranded cancer patients to their hometowns in Maharashtra

Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) is in talks with the state transport department to arrange for buses to ferry stranded cancer patients to their neighbouring hometowns

Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) is in talks with the state transport department to arrange for buses to ferry stranded cancer patients to their neighbouring hometowns in Maharashtra.

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“We have initiated a conversation with the state transport department to give us the permission to send these patients back home and also in arrangements,” said Humayun Jafri, head public relation officer of the hospital.

The bus facility will be available only for inter-district transportations, not for other states. “We will take these patients in buses through several trips with proper precautions. But the final decision is yet to be taken,” he added.

As HT reported earlier, hundreds of cancer patients are stranded in Mumbai. Cancer patients are most vulnerable to acquiring the infection due to their low immunity. Many of them have taken shelters in crowded dharamshalas or lodges. Now, as the government has provided some relaxations in transportation, TMH, the biggest cancer hospital in India is trying to send these patients back home.

The hospital has already provided alternative accommodation to several patients and their kin in the city. Around 18 patients along with their relatives have been shifted to Zaid International Hotel in Marol. The hospital has also made arrangements for food for them. “We have also organised BEST bus services for patients to ferry them to hospital for treatment,” he said.