No dearth of Good Samaritans in city

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 22

While the city has no dearth of publicity hungry pseudo activists, there are few good men who are quietly contributing for the welfare of the society. 

These anonymous heroes have generously donated lakhs of rupees for the Poor Patients Welfare Fund (PPWF) of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER). 

Dr Navneet Kaur Dhaliwal of the PGI, who keeps a record of the donations, said majority of the donors, who had given away donation running into lakhs of rupees, wanted to remain anonymous.

Nearly three days after making an appeal for donations under the poor patient welfare funds, the government-run premier medical institute of north India has received a donation of Rs 6 lakh.  The PGIMER authorities expressed gratitude to the management of St Kabir Public School, Sector 2, for donating Rs 3 lakh for the poor and needy patients. 

Manju Wadwalkar, public relations officer of the medical institute, said: "The donations are accepted either through cheque (in favour of the Director of PGIMER) or cash at the poor patient cell near the main reception of Nehru Hospital. 

He said, "The donation amount is covered under the Section 80G of the Income Tax Act." "We appeal to the public to generously donate for this fund so that we are able to save the poor patients by providing them health care," stated Wadwalkar.

Treatment cost has gone up

• While the donation has jumped from Rs 36 lakh to Rs 59 lakh, the expenditure on the treatment of poor at the PGI has stretched from Rs 41 lakh to Rs 76 lakh in the past one year.
• Disclosing the donation report of two financial years, the PGI authorities stated that in 2015-16, the institute received donations of Rs 36,90,103, while the expenditure stood at Rs 41,07,265. As many as 1,728 poor patients benefitted from the treatment. 
• In the financial year 2016-17, the institute received Rs 59, 06,083 as donation while the expenditure stood at Rs 76, 41,910. As many as 1,973 poor patients received free treatment.