Mysuru: An 11-year-old boy suffering from a liver ailment is all set to get new lease of life, thanks to crowd funding. For the liver transplant, he has to undergo, an amount of Rs 25.13 Lakh was raised through crowdfunding in just 36 hours!

Since birth, Naveen is having a liver ailment which took away his elder brother’s life. Naveen’s parents Chandramma and Mahadev who were not financially sound, initially managed his treatment in a private clinic but his condition worsened. On taking him to Apollo Hospital, the expert doctors after going through Naveen’s health condition, advised the family members for liver a transplant which costing about Rs 25 Lakh. After seeing the family’s poor financial condition, the Apollo Hospital authorities brought to their notice ImpactGuru.com, an platform for healthcare crowdfunding. The doctors at Apollo Hospital, Mysuru are very optimistic about Naveen’s recovery. Naveen’s parents are daily wagers and had no means to arrange for the funds.

Piyush Jain, Co-founder and CEO, ImpactGuru.com, “Healthcare crowdfunding is an alternative method of raising funds online for medical expenses, with the patient (or their friends or family) primarily relying on social media networks to mobilise donors to finance the relevant medical bills. The additional advantage of crowdfunding is that patients do not have to repay that money provided online back to the funders as it is a donation and not a loan. In just 36 hours, 2684 donors collectively contributed Rs 25.13 Lakh for Naveen’s treatment through crowdfunding on ImpactGuru.com (https://www.impactguru.com/fundraiser/savenaveenk). ImpactGuru.com has become the largest crowdfunding platform in India for medical expenses. Over 20,000 patients have benefited from over 200,000 donors from ImpactGuru.com. Over Rs 400 Crore has been mobilised on our platform and by our strategic partners since inception.”

Bharathesh Reddy, Vice President of Apollo Hospital, Mysuru said, “Crowdfunding is very popular in the western countries and now, it is picking up in India. Here in Naveen’s case, it was impossible to for his family to afford the treatment. After seeing the plight of the family, we approached Impactguru for crowdfunding, who, within a short duration, managed to pool more than Rs 20 Lakh. With this crowdfunding, the family doesn’t need to pay anything for the liver transplant. Naveen’s mother agreed to donate liver to her son. There are lots of processes and various tests before liver transplant. Even if the treatment is expensive, people should not lose hope. There are processes or platforms through which Apollo Hospital will try its best to assist the needy patients.”