Apart from such donations, Medical Bank also receives funds from local legislators though not on any sustained basis. “None of us draws any salary for working in Medical Bank and we’re truly a voluntary organization,” he notes.
Ashis, however, rues the fact that large pharmaceutical and medical appliance companies hardly make any concessions, let alone provide pacemakers free of cost. The supply line of pacemakers is kept open thanks to Medical Bank’s network among crematoria and hospitals who tip it off the moment a patient with a pacemaker dies.
“A body with a pacemaker inside cannot be cremated in an electric furnace due to technical reasons. Therefore, family members of the patient or the crematorium authorities call us to take out the pacemaker,” he says.
Among Ashis’ recent initiatives are Footpath Hospital, which provides treatment to hundreds of slum dwellers, and Negative Blood Group Club, possibly the first of its kind in the country.
“Footpath Hospital consists of an ambulance and a team of medics who go out, on alternate weeks, to the river bank slums and provides basic medical assistance,” Ashis says. “Those in need of advanced care are referred to hospitals and subsidies arranged.”
Negative Blood Group Club, which has 250 members, has only one criterion for membership: a negative blood group.
“By becoming a member, you can not only save lives of others, but also your own,” Ashis says. “Anyone who avails of the services of the club must be ready to give blood when asked for.”
According to Ashis, Medical Bank decided to set up the club after seeing the insecurity among people with negative blood groups. “Negative blood groups are rare compared to positive ones. Hence, people with a negative blood group and their relatives live in fear,” he explains.
Members of the club campaign in the districts to collect negative blood. “We have got a good response in South and North 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore and Hooghly. Relatives of patients from Bangladesh and Nepal are also contacting us for negative group blood. Whenever relatives of patients face problems in procuring negative blood, the hospitals refer them to us,” says Ashis.
The patients and relatives in Bangladesh and Nepal are asked to send names and contact details of people with a negative blood group in their countries. “We are also issuing identity cards to people of negative blood groups so that they can easily get help in case of an emergency,” he adds.
The man behind Medical Bank is a bachelor and an avowed disciple of Swami Vivekananda. Ashis makes it clear that his is not a non-governmental organization, which he waves off for working for the poor, but from behind glass doors in air-conditioned offices.
But the road ahead seems rough.
Medicine collections have halved in the past few years after drug companies cut down on free sample supplies to doctors. Says Ashis: “This has forced us to increase our open market purchases and spend valuable cash on them.”