Serving the poor, depression remedy for 'Givers for Cause' NGO founder Rachna Malik
NEW DELHI: Having conquered depression, Givers for Cause NGO founder Rachna Malik has now become a major support for patients coming from states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and also Nepal, for treatment at AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital.
Rachna (54) single-handedly provides food, milk and other necessary items to these persons in need. She also helps the patients get tests like MRI, CT scan done for free.
“I was a typical south Delhi woman. I would play cards with friends and go to parties, etc. But depression gradually crept in and I developed several health issues including gangrene,” she explains. “It was my daughters who inspired me to get out of the cocoon of the house and do something for the society as they said extending a healing touch to those in need would, in turn, heal me,” she narrates.
Rachna said that her daughters suggested she visited a blind school and see how the children overcome challenges.
“I started volunteering there in 2016, and since then I have started helping people, especially young children who come for treatment,” she says.
Every morning at 10 am, Rachna sets a table and a chair on the pavement of the road in front of AIIMS Gate number 5 and distributes milk and food for patients admitted to the hospital and blankets and medicines for the family members of the patients living in shelter homes outside the hospital campus. She also provides sanitary napkins and cotton panties to women.
She has set up a WhatsApp group where donors and some of her friends get the details of the amount she is spending and the items she is buying for the patients. She clicks pictures of the items she has purchased and puts it on the group to maintain transparency.
With delayed appointments and no machines in government hospitals, it becomes a challenge for poor patients to get expensive tests done at a private testing lab. Here Rachna comes to their aid.
She has collaborated with a testing lab in Greater Kailash which helps these patients in getting MRIs, CT scans, and other tests done. Rachna has also made arrangements with pharmacies and helps the patients get the required medicines.