The KM Foundation gives hope to Punjab patients
Life changing funding
The KM Foundation has awarded £150,000 to a project in the Indian state of Punjab to provide a life-changing airways reconstruction service which has the potential to improve the quality of life for thousands of families.
The Foundation is working with Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences in Amritsar and the Sri Guru Ram Das Charitable Hospital Trust in Sri Amritsar as well as Imperial College London to establish a service for patients who suffer with breathing problems and in many cases face wearing tracheostomy tubes.
The physical health problems in most cases place a drain on entire families, with adult patients with breathing problems unable to work and make a contribution to family finances, and child patients unable to breathe easily often missing out on education - the consequences of which can potentially affect the rest of their lives.
With a 30-million strong population, only private hospitals in the Punjab are able to provide the same service which is very costly and only available to the rich.
Prof Guri Sandhu, of Imperial College London, said over time, the wider population of India will benefit as the skills and services deriving from the new facility are replicated across the country. Consultant Speech and Language Therapist Prof Justin Roe will also play a pivotal role in delivering the initiative.
They will be involved in the setting up of an airway, dysphagia and voice service using colleagues with the necessary specialist skills such as speech and swallowing therapy and anaesthesia.
Prof Sandhu said: “With the training involved to keep the project running over the long term this will bring medical skills to a part of the world where there is immense poverty and no such service exists.
“Skills will be transferable to other parts of India through training and the service should be able to run on its own after the set up and training period, with remote input only.”
Kumar Muthalagappan, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who set up the KM Foundation to aid underprivileged communities with healthcare and education projects to help their lives progress, said: “The airways service will provide a real lifeline for thousands of people across the Punjab. The benefits to the patients themselves will be second to none and the knock-on effects are also far reaching – not just benefiting the patients themselves but making a real tangible difference to entire families, improving their quality of life.
“The benefits to India as a whole will be immense over time. The project perfectly fits the criteria for funding from the KM Foundation and we are delighted to be involved in facilitating its launch.”
Once established in the Punjab the service could be expanded to other states in India and potentially on a global scale.
