AccessLife launches ‘Home Away from Home’ centre to support families of children with cancer

SILCHAR: In a significant step toward making pediatric cancer care more compassionate and accessible, AccessLife Assistance Foundation has inaugurated a ‘Home Away from Home’ (HAH) centre in Silchar. Supported by the Harish and Bina Shah Foundation, this marks AccessLife’s first such initiative in Northeast India.

Located at Panchayat Road in the Ashiana Building, the centre is designed to support families of children undergoing treatment at the Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (CCHRC). It offers completely free accommodation for up to 17 families at a time, along with nutritious meals, local transportation, psychological counselling, and informal education support for young patients.

Each year, more than 50 children travel to CCHRC for cancer treatment, many coming from remote areas across Assam and neighbouring states such as Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. For these families, finding safe and affordable accommodation has long been a major challenge. The new HAH centre aims to bridge this critical gap, ensuring that treatment is not disrupted due to logistical or financial constraints.

The initiative has been made possible with the continued support of the Harish and Bina Shah Foundation, an organisation established in 2002 that works to promote equity and opportunity across India. Since 2022, the foundation has partnered with AccessLife to set up similar centres in cities like Chandigarh, Manipal, and Madurai, now extending its reach to the Northeast.

Dr. R. Ravi Kannan, Director and Surgical Oncologist at CCHRC, emphasized the importance of holistic care: “Patient care is never an individual effort. It is a collective initiative involving doctors, donors, and the community. Providing families with a safe place to stay significantly increases the chances of children completing their treatment.” He added that CCHRC has grown into a key cancer care institution in Northeast India, with 28 departments and a workforce of over 450 staff members.

Girish Nair, Founder and Chairman of AccessLife Assistance Foundation, expressed gratitude to both the hospital team and supporting partners. “We are thankful to Dr. Ravi Kannan and his team for making cancer care accessible in this region. With the support of the Harish and Bina Shah Foundation, we are able to stand by more families. This centre will make a crucial difference between continuing and abandoning treatment for many.”

The Silchar facility is AccessLife’s 14th centre across India and is being seen as a vital step toward addressing long-standing gaps in healthcare support services in Northeast India.