THE PROBLEM
Congenital heart disorders are ailments that affect children at birth and at a young age. In India, nearly 250,000 children per year are born with cardiac diseases with 10,000 such cases in Tamil Nadu, like Baby Sharmila (image below) from Dindigul Mavattam. She was born blue due to a complex heart disease. She wasn't as active as a normal child her age was. Her father earned INR 5000 a month as a farmer and could not afford the life-saving surgery for his daughter.
THE SOLUTION
The only solution for Baby Sharmila and children like her is to provide free heart surgery. This was taken care of by Hearts for Hearts (H4H) which is a public charitable trust based in Chennai. H4H partners with other organisations like Public Health Centre and Udavum Karangal to support these heart surgeries. Hearts for Hearts took in Sharmila and got her surgery done. She is now an active and healthy child.
The children are operated in Public Health Centre (PHC) and are accommodated at Udavum Karangal, an NGO near Chennai. The initiative by H4H enables 2 free heart surgeries a week. An average cardiac surgery over here costs INR 1.5L of which INR 1.1L is covered by CMCHIS (Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Schemes), other subsidies & donors. This campaign aims to fund the shortfall of INR 40000 per surgery. I would like to raise INR 20,000 to support a part of the surgery cost or more and help young children.
HOW IT WORKS
ABOUT ME & THIS CAMPAIGN
My name is MEENAKSHI YECHURI. I am 13 years old and in Grade 8 at the BVM School, Chennai.
This campaign of mine aims to impact the lives of children who come from the economically weaker classes of society. It is devastating to know that there are so many families in just Tamil Nadu that cannot afford something as basic as health care for their children. If you told me that we could actually save the life of someone, I would have been amused. But here I am now doing exactly that.
The fact that heart surgery can be done at such a low cost is another reason why I decided to do this campaign. I have undertaken this campaign because I don’t think children belong in hospitals. Doing this ensures that one more child gets a chance to go out and play rather than suffer at home. Further, I believe that healthcare is a basic necessity that should be available to everyone irrespective of their financial capabilities.
I request you to support me in this endeavor so that we can together save the lives of children!
IMPACT
THE COST BREAK UP
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
HEARTS FOR HEARTS
Hearts for Hearts (H4H) is a public charitable trust started by Dr. Sreemathi Seshadrinathan. It focuses on free cardiac surgery for the deprived. It was founded on 28th July. Hearts for Hearts believes that everyone is entitled to quality healthcare. SOCAN (Solution for Cardiac Afflicted Needy) is a project under Hearts for Hearts (H4H). Under this project, the following is done:
1. Detection in Camps.
2. Transportation & Accommodation
3. Preparation for surgery
4. Performing surgery
5. Periodical follow-up
This is done in partnership with PHC & Udhavum Karangal.
ABOUT PHC
Public Health Centre is a community medical centre run by the Public Health and Welfare Society, a voluntary social body. It was started by Shri. M C Subrahmanyam in a hut in 1953 when the area was like a village lacking in basic civic amenities. Now it is a 150-bed hospital, with a full-fledged Cardiac Department with a Modern State of art Operation Theatre and Cathlab Facility.
Charges for the services available are nominal and affordable. Its a household name in and around this area, most of the families avail the medical services available here at some stage or the other. The success story of Public Health Centre is largely a legacy of collective efforts by the dedicated doctors, philanthropic donors, selfless volunteers and devoted staff.
ABOUT UDHAVUM KARANGAL
Udavum Karangal believes that everyone deserves to be loved. There have been many, from newborn babies to dying destitute, who have found a home here. The centre provides individualized services – treatment, care, rehabilitation and education. They also reach out to the community needs.
MISSION SAMRIDDHI
Mission Samriddhi is a social impact enterprise dedicated to holistic human development in India through the design and development of projects that are sustainable and capable of scale to positively impact the larger population. They support existing initiatives, harnessing energy and passion, providing the support required to address constraints, while building sustainable models in association with project partners. Commit to a strong and prosperous India.
LOCATIONS
TAX BENEFITS
Funding to this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as Hearts For Hearts is a registered trust & you can avail of benefits under section 80G of the IT act. Foreign funding is not accepted.
FEEDBACK THAT YOU GET
To ensure that there is complete transparency a report from the hospital ( this takes between 1 to 2 months usually after the funds are raised & transferred) about who benefitted from the funding will be updated. The details will then be posted on the UPDATES section of my campaign and will be in a format like the one below. As soon as the update is posted, the platform will send an EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e to you. Click on the link on the email and you can read about which child benefitted. That's transparent right?
FAQs
Will we get to know the details of the child who benefitted?
Yes. After the money has been collected it will be transferred by Fueladream to Hearts For Hearts. It will take 1-2 months after that to get details of who the beneficiary child was with details of her parents, her picture etc. Once I get this information from the team, I shall upload this on the UPDATES section of this campaign. You will then get an alert & can read details about the beneficiary.
When do I get the receipts?
It takes a week after the campaign is closed for the monies to be transferred. The receipts will start getting processed about 2 to 3 weeks AFTER the campaign is closed and will be sent to you directly.
How does crowdfunding work?
Crowdfunding in India is a relatively new concept & is growing very quickly.
It’s s concept that allows a large number of funders (like you) to fund an idea or a cause or event by giving small amounts of money online. Fueladream is a crowdfunding site and platform in India that allows for such pooling of funds. You can fund innovations & ideas on FuelADream and be the first to get these products or make them come true. You can also do a good turn by funding charities and causes through crowdfunding. When you fund a charity it’s more like a donation & you get small innovative rewards like a shout-out on a FB page or a thank you email from the beneficiaries.
