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Vashi2Panvel.Com: Navi Mumbai: October 25: Today when the rift among us is widening more and more with every passing day on the footing of caste, creed, region and financial status. There are some people who are serving humanity without any sort of discrimination. Bharat Sevashram Sangha at Vashigaon is one such banner under which numerous volunteer including monks are putting untiring efforts to ease the agony of Cancer patients hailing from economically weak background.

History
The Sangha at Vashigaon was set up in 1993 under the leadership of Swami Prashantananda. This center is the unit of Bharat Sevashram of Kolkatta, which was established in 1917 by Yogacharya Sreemat Swamy to carry out humanitarian activities.

The Sangha’s Navi Mumbai center has turned into a boon for the monetarily weak Cancer patients, who come to Mumbai from all nook and corner of India and neighboring countries for their treatment. Eminent Oncologists like Dr. Shirshir Sheety, Dr. Advani, etc., visit the patients at the Sangha regularly.

Activities
The ashram provides accommodation along with meals to cancer patients and their attendants. Free bus and emergency ambulance service plying from Sevashram, Vashigaon to Tata Memorial Hospital at Sewri is also given to the patients by this center. “We have 36 rooms and eight dormitories, which can accommodate 105 patients along with their attendants”, tells Swami Prashantananda. He further adds, “We also facilitate financial assistance and chemotherapy treatment to the needy patients.”

So far more than 10000 patients have made use of the accommodation and other facilitates of the Sangha and approximately 300 patients have utilized their chemotherapy treatment. The throat cancer treatment of Sanjay Kumar’s father brought him to Mumbai all the way from Bihar. He says, “From Tata Memorial Hospital, I got to know about this ashram and since last one month my ailing father and me are staying in this ashram, which is providing all the basic facilities to us.”

Besides serving the cancer patients, this center also conducts coaching class for the children coming from monetarily weak families. It organizes many cultural programs to entertain the cancer patients. Beyond any doubt this Sangha has turned into a home away from home for the people battling with cancer.

Preeti Gupta