For families of critically ill children, hospital stays can be emotionally overwhelming and financially draining—especially when home is far away. In India, where pediatric care often requires families to travel long distances for treatment, the need for compassionate, family-centered support is urgent.
In this heartfelt interview, Ms. Smita Jatia, Chairwoman of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) India, shares the vision behind establishing the country’s first Ronald McDonald House in Mahim, Mumbai. She discusses how this initiative is bridging critical gaps in pediatric care by offering free accommodation, meals, emotional support, and transport to families of hospitalized children—ensuring they can stay close to their child during treatment.
The interview delves into the House’s design, its operational model, community partnerships, and future expansion plans. Jatia also reflects on how RMHC complements India’s healthcare system, supports hospital efficiency, and delivers emotional strength to families at their most vulnerable. With a mission to serve over 6,000 families annually by 2030, RMHC India is redefining care—beyond medicine.
Read the full interview below for deeper insights.
Q&A
Q. What is your vision behind setting up the first Ronald McDonald House in India, and what key gaps in pediatric care and family support are you aiming to address through this initiative?
A. At Ronald McDonald House, our vision is simple yet powerful to keep families close when they need it the most. Establishing India's first Ronald McDonald House is a natural extension of our long standing commitment and deep personal understanding of what families go through when their child needs specialized medical care. For over 51 years globally, Ronald McDonald House has been serving this mission, providing comfort, care, and togetherness to families with hospitalized children across more than 60 countries.
When we started Ronald McDonald House with Family Rooms in 2016, we witnessed firsthand the immense challenges families face when travelling long distances to access specialized paediatric care for their child’s treatment. When a child is seriously ill, the entire family is affected emotionally, financially, and physically. These families often struggle to manage safe accommodation, clean and hygienic meals, navigate transportation to and from hospitals, all while carrying the emotional and financial burden of their child's illness.
The Ronald McDonald House bridges this gap by providing a safe, comfortable, and caring environment. We believe we are addressing the ‘care and support beyond medicine’ gap in the country.
We believe that care is incomplete if it focuses only on the patient. The entire family needs support. Through this initiative, we aim to not only reduce the stress and financial burden on families but also to improve overall child health outcomes. Our House addresses this by creating a comprehensive support system where families can stay together during treatment periods in a safe space and connect with others walking similar paths.
Q. Could you share some insights into the operational model of the Mumbai house? How do you ensure continuity of care, hygiene, and emotional support for the residents?
A. The design and operations of the Ronald McDonald House in Mahim are deeply rooted in empathy and evidence. It is built on more than five decades of global experience in caring for families of critically ill children and our experience with Family Rooms in India since 2016.
We began by understanding the real, everyday challenges families face when a child is hospitalized like long distances, high costs, emotional strain, and the absence of a supportive environment.
Every element of the House has been thoughtfully created to ease these burdens. It has 16 comfortable private rooms that offer families dignity and personal space, crucial for emotional well being during extended medical treatments. Fully equipped kitchen with nutritious groceries that allow families to have clean, hygienic and nutritious food as per their requirements. Warm communal spaces that allow parents to find strength in shared experiences and a shuttle service connecting them to the hospital, as we have observed how navigation difficulties and travel costs create additional burdens for already-stressed families
Operationally, we maintain a careful balance between professional management and compassionate care. We follow Ronald McDonald House global standards of hygiene, safety, and care. The House is professionally managed by trained staff, with strict protocols for cleanliness, nutrition, and infection control, round-the-clock to ensure families have support whenever needed. Just as importantly, emotional wellbeing is at the heart of what we do through counselling support, volunteer engagement, and a nurturing environment that allows families to rest, recover, and focus entirely on their child’s healing.
This model ensures continuity of care beyond medical treatment. It is about caring for the family so that they can care for their child.
Q. Why is it important, especially in India, to provide a “home-like” environment near hospitals for families during a child’s treatment?
A. In India, the concept of family is at the core of our identity and healing traditions. It has sustained us for generations and is built on the understanding that we heal better together. When a child is ill, particularly with conditions requiring specialized care, families often must travel great distances to major medical centers, disconnecting them from this crucial support system, homes and livelihoods. The importance of providing a home-like environment closer to the hospitals becomes important when we consider both emotional and practical realities. Emotionally, children recover better when surrounded by family.
The financial burden of accommodation in cities like Mumbai can be overwhelming for families from rural or semi-urban areas. Many families face impossible choices , either drain their savings on accommodation or sleep on hospital floors and pavements. We have also seen parents sacrificing meals to afford surviving.
A ‘home-like’ environment offers exactly that. It gives parents and the kids a safe place to stay, nutritious meals, and the ability to focus on the recovery of their child without worrying about logistics or costs. This not only reduces their anxiety but has been shown globally to improve recovery outcomes for children. Through the Ronald McDonald House, we aim to provide families with a sense of normalcy and dignity in the middle of uncertainty.
Q. How does this initiative complement or strengthen the existing pediatric healthcare ecosystem in Mumbai, particularly in collaboration with nearby hospitals?
A. The Ronald McDonald House works with the BJ Wadia and Tata Memorial Hospitals to create an integrated support system.
Our associations with these medical institutions allow for coordinated care planning. Doctors and medical staff can focus on providing the best clinical treatment, knowing that their patients' families have stable accommodation and support. This collaborative approach helps optimize hospital resources while ensuring parents can remain close, rested, and emotionally supported throughout their child’s treatment.
This House strengthens the continuum of care by bridging clinical hospital environment and the emotional needs of families. While hospitals maintain clinical protocols, our space provides the psychological comfort families need during extended treatment journeys.
In essence, Ronald McDonald House serves as an extended arm of the healthcare system enabling healing beyond the hospital walls. Our first House is just the beginning of what we envision as a comprehensive ecosystem of family support that works hand-in-hand with Mumbai's medical infrastructure to create a more holistic approach to pediatric healthcare.
Q. What has been the response so far from hospital partners, local communities, and families during the pilot or planning phases?
A. The response has been encouraging and positive and this confirms the urgent need for this initiative. Our hospital partners - BJ Wadia and Tata Memorial Hospital have been particularly supportive, recognizing that a Ronald McDonald House directly addresses a significant gap they have observed in patient care.
We have already welcomed our first few families to the House, and their responses have been deeply moving. One parent told us, "Every morning, we used to travel hours to reach the hospital. Many nights we had no safe place to sleep, and my younger child would go without food or shelter while we focused on treatment." This family, like many others, was previously sleeping on pavements outside the hospital with their belongings.
The local community has also embraced this initiative. We will also have volunteers coming forward to support various aspects of the House operations, from helping in the kitchen to organizing activities for children. This community involvement is crucial to creating the warm, home-like environment that distinguishes a Ronald McDonald House.
Q. Looking ahead, Ronald McDonald House India plans to open more Houses and Family Rooms by 2030. What does the roadmap look like and which regions are you prioritizing?
A. Our vision is to make sure that no family have to walk their child's medical journey alone. By 2030, we aim to operate at least five Houses offering 300-400 private rooms and three Family Rooms across key pediatric hubs. These facilities will offer free lodging, meals, and psychosocial support helping more than 5,000-6,000 families each year. The roadmap is focused on areas with a high inflow of critically ill pediatric patients, and nearby large government and charitable hospitals serving families from far away and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Along with newly opened Houses, we will continue to add new Family Rooms within a hospital setting, so that parents can remain close to the child and still be involved in their child's care and recovery, especially during day care treatments. Each new facility we open will further reinforce our commitment to providing families with compassionate family comfort and support, strengthening the global network for the families we serve in the most difficult moments.
Q. Could you highlight some of your current collaborations and how these partners have contributed to the success and scalability of your efforts?
A. Building and sustaining the Ronald McDonald House ecosystem requires collaboration across multiple stakeholders, and we have been fortunate to experience great generosity from our community.
For our first House, we have received invaluable support from corporate partners who have contributed both financially and through in-kind donations. At the heart of our journey stands McDonald’s India. McDonald’s is the founding partner of Ronald McDonald House globally and has supported this mission for over five decades. In India too, McDonald’s has been a wholehearted champion of Ronald McDoanld House India since inception giving back to the community through continuous support, awareness building, and initiatives such as the ‘Round-Up Your Bill’ program at McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India. This partnership reflects the shared belief that when we care for families, we strengthen the foundation of healthier communities. Companies like McCain, Vista Foods, Vinod Cookware, Mrs. Bectors, Amardeep designs and many others have played crucial roles in establishing our facility that make our House feel like a home. Their contributions directly impact families' daily experiences.
We have created various volunteering opportunities like preparing meals to organizing activities for the kids and the families that allow individuals and corporate teams to contribute meaningfully. Looking ahead to future expansions, we are developing strategic partnership models that align with companies' CSR objectives while meeting our operational needs. Some partners are adopting specific rooms or facilities within the House, while others are supporting ongoing operational costs through multi-year commitments.
