Sanjeevani – Life Beyond Cancer, gets ‘Not for Profit for the Year 2020’ award

New Delhi: In recognition of the yeoman service done for transforming lives of persons battling cancer and raising the bar of cancer care by implementing many innovative programs 'Sanjeevani' – Life Beyond Cancer has been conferred the award for being the 'Not for Profit for the Year 2020' at the recently concluded annual Grant Thorton – SABERA Awards 2020.

Sanjeevani – Life Beyond Cancer, a non-profit organisation, is a pioneer in the field of comprehensive cancer care and works in the core areas of Health, Skill Development and Awareness through its programs designed for: Physical, psychological and financial rehabilitation of underprivileged cancer patients; skilling cancer survivors to become trained professional cancer caregivers and creating awareness on healthy lifestyle, prevention and early detection of cancer.

Sanjeevani-Life Beyond Cancer was founded in 2012 by Ruby Ahluwalia, after her personal tryst with stage 3 cancer. The emotional and physical pain, as well as the financial stress of battling cancer, prompted Ruby to begin a new chapter in her own life – beyond cancer. She set up Sanjeevani… Life Beyond with the aim to make the journey of cancer for underprivileged patients and their families less strenuous, thus enabling them to complete their treatment and live as productive members of the society thereafter.

"Being a cancer victor, I wanted to not only help underprivileged cancer patients but also impact the mind-set and negative attitude that sinks in with the illness. We at Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer are constantly trying to raise the bar of cancer care in India. I wish 'Sanjeevani' to be present in every state of India in the next three years giving  emotional, psychological and physical support to cancer patients in the smaller towns and cities." Says Ruby Ahluwalia, Founder Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer.

Inspired by Ruby's vision and commitment to the cause and the guidance of a vibrant Board of Advisors, Sanjeevani has had a phenomenal growth trajectory since inception.

Sanjeevani currently works intensively with patients in 12 Indian states (15 Super speciality hospitals) and has enriched the lives of over 2,50,000 patients in eight years, since inception, through a dedicated team of experts. Sanjeevani works predominantly with underprivileged patients and the programs offered by them are free of cost to patients.

As Ruby says, "We are a pioneer in Comprehensive cancer care- the only ones to navigate patients for the full spectrum from despair to wellness and thus rehabilitating them as productive members of the society and I, therefore, think of Sanjeevani as a nation builder and not just an NGO."

Sanjeevani's contribution during COVID 19 has been immense. The COVID-19 infused lockdown was a nightmare for cancer patients. Their treatments stopped; the availability of medicines became a problem; the patients could not reach the hospitals. Patients felt restless, clueless, and scared.   Sanjeevani's entire team immediately sprang into action. While hospitals had to curtail their OPDs in view of COVID-19, Sanjeevani's team realigned their programs and leveraging technology and have been connecting patients with doctors through interactive video calls facilitating free consultations and the much-needed medical advice.

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In addition to the above, Sanjeevani started a Tele helpline for counselling patients and received more than 700 calls daily and has helped over 85,000 cancer patients till date.

Sanjeevani's Online Immunity Building Sessions on strengthening immunity to fight cancer gained momentum as we ran deeper into lockdown. The sessions delivered by experts employ a multimodal approach, teaching people various processes to understand the role of food, breath, managing pain, facilitating medical advice by oncologists and psychological states in maintaining their immunity and releasing emotional stress.

Apart from the extensive groundwork work across geographies, with this 'new normal' of going virtual, Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer pumped up its outreach by leveraging digital and social media to propagate the following amongst masses. Over 400 programs have being held in past 6 months to educate communities on:

• Immunity building
• Importance of leading a Healthy Lifestyle and cancer prevention.

"Working with cancer patients is my passion and bringing health back to them is the purpose of my life. Acknowledgement of this work further energises me and my team. I sincerely thank 'Grant Thornton SABERA' for this recognition and award.  It makes us believe that we are on the right path." Says Ruby Ahluwalia, Founder, Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer.

Disclaimer: This story is a press release and is being published without any editing by PSU Watch desk. Our editorial team has only changed the headline.

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