Financial Aid and Resources

Central Government Funded Organizations

A patient can avail one of several schemes to ease some of the financial load which they may have to bear during the course of treatment.

Government Schemes 

(1) Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF): In pursuance of an appeal by the then Prime Minister, Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in January, 1948, the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) was established with public contributions to assist displaced persons from Pakistan. The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of the major accidents and riots. Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment, etc. The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support. The corpus of the fund is invested with banks in fixed deposits. Disbursements are made with the approval of the Prime Minister. PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament. The fund is recognized as a Trust under the Income Tax Act and the same is managed by Prime Minister or multiple delegates for national causes. Form can be downloaded here.

(2) Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is giving financial assistance to the poor patients for treatment at different hospitals in all over the country under the following two schemes:

1. Health Minister’s Cancer Patient Fund (HMCPF) within the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi  (RAN) Health Minister’s Cancer Patient Fund (HMCPF) has been set up for providing financial assistance to the poor patients suffering from cancer. A Corpus Fund of Rs. 100 crore has been set up, which has been placed in fixed deposit. Interest accrued thereon is utilized to provide the  financial  assistance. More details are available here.
2. Health Minister’s Discretionary Grants (HMDG) Financial Assistance up to a maximum of Rs. 50,000/- is available to the poor indigent patients from the Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant  to defray a part of the expenditure on Hospitalization/treatment in Government Hospitals in cases where free medical facilities are not  available. Form can be downloaded here.

(3) Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS): Applicable for retired Central Government employees and dependents. For providing better cancer treatment facilities to CGHS beneficiaries, one private hospital in Hyderabad and 10 Private hospitals in Delhi have been empanelled in June 2011 under CGHS exclusively for Cancer treatment as per the rates of Tata Memorial Hospital for Cancer Surgery. In addition, patient can avail cancer treatment at approved rates from any hospital, where facilities for cancer treatment are available.

(4) Railway concession for cancer patient and one bystander: Travel for the patient is totally free. The bystander has to pay only 25% of the actual II class fare. This concession is applicable only for travel from nearest hometown station to treating cancer hospital/cancer institute and back.
Form can be downloaded here.

(5) Air concession for cancer patient: Patient has to pay 50% of the basic fare of the normal economy class. This concession is applicable only for those persons who are resident of India and suffering from cancer and are travelling for the purpose of medical check-up/treatment.

Required Documents: An application from the passenger stating that he/she is proceeding for treatment supported by a certificate issued by cancer hospital or an institute. Form can be downloaded here.

(6) Income Tax relief for cancer patient:  Form can be downloaded here.

Note: Apart from these centrally funded schemes many State Governments and Non Government Organizations (NGO)  also provide aid for cancer patients. The readers are advised to visit their respective websites for more information.