I had the Honor and privilege to serve on it’s Board of permanent Trustees, since it’s inception, and now that I am stepping aside to pass the Baton to young progressive, energetic and enthusiastic leaders, it is time for to reflect back and share with you, what it took to make Dr. Dharkar’s dream a reality, to what it is to day.

The goal of the ICF from the outset was to provide access to cancer care for the resource challenged patients, increase awareness about the disease, early detection and training program for Doctors, Nurses and all allied personnel, in the remote locations adjacent to major metropolitan areas, thru government, philanthropic and grant support.

The penetration and successful organization of such outreach programs has been phenomenal over the past 35 years, with 234 cancer camps, 250 programs of awareness and 220 training programs for early detection and palliative care, in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh. The latest amongst these have been the screening programs for head and neck and breast cancers in collaboration with the state Government.

At the heart of this entire effort was to create a multidisciplinary comprehensive National center for mouth and throat cancers, “The Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology”. This has been a multi phased development program, which opened its doors for patients in August 1995. Much has been accomplished, but much more remains to be done. The Institute currently offers Radiotherapy, including 3DRT and IMRT, chemotherapy as well as radiology, biochemistry and pharmacy services. The surgical oncology wing with the latest equipment for a modular OT and an ICU are in the final stages of completion.

Concurrent with this is the introduction of supportive care services to ease the impact and sequela of cancer treatment, to improve the quality of life of patients. On the education and training front the Institute organizes weekly tumor Boards and offers a digital library to students at all levels.

The fruits of these efforts are, that as of now over 8000 patients have received radiotherapy and over 3500 patients had surgery. Many of these were totally free, meeting the goal of providing “access for proper cancer care to the resource challenged”. Clearly, support from government agencies, philanthropists and national and International organizations thru grants for research in education and health care in the community are crucial to accomplish the mission of ICF.