Doctor takes to crowdfunding for mother's treatment

Agra, Jan 4: A junior doctor at the government-run S.N. Medical College has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise Rs 1 crore to purchase a drug crucial for life-saving immune-mediated chemotherapy for her mother.

The junior resident, Dr Anjali Gupta, has also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for help.

The doctor's mother is suffering from metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and is undergoing treatment at Dr B.R. Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi.

Her mother, Daya Gupta, 60, has been suffering from breast cancer since 2019.

Doctors have tried four different types of chemotherapy since January 2021 but the cancer is still progressing.

On December 8, doctors recommended a four-cycle treatment to Daya that involves a drug named Sacituzumab Govitecan, sold under the brand name Trodelvy.

She was told that this was the last resort to save her life. The drug is not available in India and has to be imported from the US. The total cost of the drug is roughly around $30,000 (Rs 23 lakh) for one cycle of immune-mediated chemotherapy and the entire treatment will cost Rs 1 crore.

With the support of crowdfunding website Impact Guru, Dr Anjali has raised roughly Rs 23.69 lakh in the past 29 days. She still needs over Rs 76 lakh to proceed with the prescribed treatment.

Dr Anjali Gupta told reporters, "I cannot see my mother die. I have served during both the waves of Covid-19 and will do my best to serve society after completing my postgraduation. I request the government and people to help us as my family cannot afford to buy the expensive drug, which is crucial for the treatment of my mother".

Dr Anjali is a junior resident doctor (a final year postgraduation student) at the ophthalmology department of S.N. Medical College. Her father owns a chemist shop in Pratapura. Her brother is a website designer in Punjab.