The YouWeCan Foundation run by cricketer and cancer survivor Yuvraj Singh and his mother Mrs Shabnam Singh started ‘Mission 1000 bed’ to support and enhance capacity of existing healthcare infrastructure amid peak COVID months last year. The initiative started after someone close to Yuvraj Singh passed away due to COVID.
In this interview with TheCSRUniverse, YouWeCan Foundation Chairperson Ms Shabnam Singh talks about various cancer awareness and treatment programmes run by her NGO, ‘Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa’ movement and the ‘Mission 1000 bed’ initiative taken by the organisation during COVID.
Ms Singh speaks on how her NGO has been collaborating with corporates and other social stakeholders towards effectively implementing its programmes and empowering people to fight cancer through Cancer Screening Programmes and Cancer Awareness Programmes. She also shares her insight on how greater participation of NGOs in policy making can help create more impact at the ground level.
Scroll down to read full interview with Mrs Shabnam Singh …
Q: The YouWeCan Foundation has been working on ‘Mission 1000 beds’ initiative? What is the objective and how was it conceptualized?
A: During the second wave of the pandemic, we not only read in the news about the high mortality rate of COVID patients across the country due to gaps in medical infrastructure, but also experienced a personal tragedy when someone close to Yuvraj passed away. That is when we decided that our Foundation would step up and make an effort to bridge the gaps in some manner. Hence, in June 2021, we joined hands with OneDigital Entertainment and launched the #Mission1000Beds initiative.
This is a hospital capacity expansion solution that aims to rapidly scale up critical care facilities and increase the capacity of COVID-19 Care Beds at Government, army and charitable hospitals across India by about 10% of the existing capacity by setting up oxygenated beds, ventilators and BiPAP machines, along with other essential medical equipment that is required for critical care of COVID-19 patients. We planned this as a rapid response initiative with an average turnaround time of 15 days from the receipt of grant till complete installation and handover of the set up to the hospital.
Q: What has been the geographical reach of the initiative, and are there any plans for extending it?
A: Under this initiative, we have covered 11 states, namely Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. We have set up 1020 beds in 14 hospitals across these states. Moreover, 805 oxygen cylinders, 115 ventilators, 388 BiPAP machines, 985 patient monitors and other critical care equipment have been provided to the hospitals. We have also provided 17,912 PPE kits to 8 hospitals across 6 states.
Hopefully, we are now seeing the end of the pandemic. Beyond COVID-19, the infrastructure built by #Mission1000Beds will support critical care requirements of cancer patients.
Q: What were the main challenges that the organisation faced during the implementation, especially with Covid protocols in place?
A: There were many challenges. During the COVID times, medical equipment was in high demand while there was a shortage of supply. A lot of efforts had to be made by us to get the best medical devices at the best prices. Secondly, timely delivery and setup of the beds was very crucial. It felt as if the clock was always ticking. People were dying and losing time meant losing lives. Thus, putting manpower on the ground, mobilizing teams to work in such high-risk situations and keeping them safe was our priority. It was surely a difficult time.
Q: Are there any more initiatives that the organisation is planning for the healthcare industry?
A: Our core focus area is to help people across India in their fight against cancer and we are continuing our efforts in that area. We have recently partnered with the Government of Goa for a ‘Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa’ breast cancer screening project. We also conduct regular cancer screening camps for marginalized communities across the country with a focus on breast and oral cancer screening.
We also train women on how to conduct self-breast examinations and spread awareness on cervical cancer. Our other ongoing initiatives include tobacco-cessation camps and anti-tobacco workshops in schools and colleges, corporate awareness workshops as well as online campaigns and awareness events.
Till date, 1,50,000 people have been screened by our Foundation for different types of cancer, 1,25,000 students have been sensitized in anti-tobacco workshops, 30,000 women have been sensitized on self-breast examination and 24,000 men have been counselled for tobacco cessation. Moreover, 150 cancer survivor students have been supported through the YouWeCan Scholarship.
Q: What are your suggestions on the kind of programs social sector stakeholders should focus on especially in healthcare?
A: Over the last few decades, the social sector in India has witnessed a tremendous growth. In fact, the not-for-profit sector has been playing a major role in successful implementation of Government schemes. As far as healthcare sector is concerned, there have been a range of technology innovations in recent times that will help improve the healthcare infrastructure and accessibility at the grassroot level areas. Therefore, it is important for Healthcare NGOs to focus on smart and innovative solutions that will help people on a large scale. The stakeholders in the healthcare social sector should not shy away from collaborations and meaningful partnerships that will help take the best solutions on the ground.
Q: What are your expectations from your partners, when it comes to strengthening and streamlining your CSR efforts?
A: The basis of any successful partnership is mutual trust and transparency. We view Corporate Social Responsibility as a beautiful way of enabling Private or Government sector organizations to create the desired social impact on ground. Our Foundation has been fortunate to have the support of numerous well-established organizations and we make it a priority to keep our partner organizations involved, informed and updated about the progress of the projects at every stage. Similarly, our expectations from our partners and stakeholders are transparent processes, development of goals together and alignment of teams for smooth functioning.
Q: Who all were your corporate partners and how different was their participation and contribution towards your initiatives, especially during the pandemic?
A: For the Mission 1000 Beds initiative, we partnered with Accenture, SBI Foundation, Give India, IndusInd Bank, Payback and Milaap who donated around INR 20 Crores in total for this project. All our partners and donors understood that timely delivery of the beds and equipment was the need of the hour in order to save lives. Hence, they were extremely supportive and efficient in releasing the funds, which enabled us to execute our entire project run seamlessly and in a very short time span.
Q: Is there going to be an extension of the Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa initiative to other parts of the country?
A: Swasth Mahila, Swasth Goa is a pilot project that we are doing in partnership with the Government of Goa. The project has been funded by the Indian Institute of Banking & Finance while SBI Foundation is the project partner and UE Life Sciences is the technology partner. Under this initiative, free breast cancer screening will be done for 1 lakh women in Goa over the next two years, thereby ensuring that 50% of the age eligible female population in the state is screened. Moreover, free treatment will be provided for all positive cases with the support of the Government of Goa. For such a mammoth project, support and partnership of the state government is critical. Now that the Goa project is in full swing, we are planning to initiate conversations with other state governments and kick-start other state editions of this initiative.
Q: Being a woman, how important do you think is it to educate and sensitize the community towards the issue of women's health? What roles can the CSR stakeholders - corporates, NGOs, Implementation Agencies, Government, and social entrepreneurs- play to initiate projects that primarily focus on women's health, as they still remain the most undernourished and vulnerable sections of society?
A: Women are the most integral part of the society. She is the pivot on which the humankind relies biologically and socially. But for a woman, her child, husband, parents and in-laws are always more important and she often neglects her own health while taking care of the others in the family. It is important that all stakeholders work on awareness and prevention of major preventable diseases for women. She does not need to be protected but needs to be empowered with the right knowledge, technique, skills, infrastructure and necessary support to take on issues of her health with confidence. I believe that if a woman is healthy and well-informed, the entire future generation is safe and secure.
Q: Is it a challenge for you to raise awareness (for themes like breast cancer screening) among the most underprivileged sections of society, especially because of their conservative set up? How do you deal with the problems that arise at the ground level?
A: India is a multicultural country with diversity in all aspects. This naturally brings about various preconceived notions, myths, taboos and beliefs in different parts of the country regarding various issues. It is challenging to raise awareness about sensitive topics like breast and cervical cancer in the rural and semi-rural areas. We take help from doctors, social workers, Anganwadis, nurses at the PHC level and ladies in the villages to make them comfortable and open up about their problems. We have been extremely lucky to always get support on ground regrading such issues.
Q: What changes would you like to see in terms of Government policies for CSR in Healthcare?
A: It is my sincere desire that the not-for-profit sector should be involved at the policy-making level. An NGO working on the ground knows the pain points of the population. Hence, when policies are developed, it is best to have stakeholders who work with the beneficiaries be a part of the process for better policy making, implementation and for driving change.
