Milestones – Indore Cancer Foundation Charitable Trust

1988

Indore Cancer Foundation (ICF) launched in the presence of Dr. Jatin P Shah, late Shri Sunil Dutt, and the citizens of Indore.

1989

Cancer awareness and detection camps in rural areas started Trust settled by Smt. Usha Raje Holkar of Indore and Shri
Satish Chandra Malhotra.

1990

First international visitor, Dr. Jan Stjernsward, Chief Cancer Unit, WHO, Geneva.
ICF registered under the Madhya Pradesh Public Trust Act, 1951

1992

The head and neck cancer center included in the 7th Indo-French Joint Commission on Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Article 10, thanks to the support of Late Shri Amarnath Verma, IAS, the then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India

1993

First Indo-French workshop on cancer held by Dr. Jacques Brugere, Institut Curie, and Dr. Guy Schwaab, Institut Gustave Roussy.

1994

Scientific data of the first WHO supported project, ‘Community oral cancer control and prevention’ presented in a session at the 16th International Cancer Congress (UICC) in New Delhi.

1995

The Indian Institute of Head and Neck Oncology (IIHNO) opens its doors to cancer patients on the ten acres of land given on nominal lease by the state government of Madhya Pradesh. It began as an OPD radiotherapy facility with Eldorado 78, a second hand cobalt machine gifted by the Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation, Ottawa-Hull, Canada, at the behest of Late Shri Sunil Dutt.

1996

First State Bank of India donation of Rs. 15 25 000/- received for the purchase of a new radiation source for the Eldorado 78. Poster presentation on the findings of the 2nd WHO funded project, Cancer pain and its psycho-social impact’ at the World Psychiatry Congress in Madrid, Spain.

1997

The Hon’ble President of India, late Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, apprised of the activities of ICF through an audio-visual presentation.The President lauded the project and wished it good luck.

1998

Start of the 3rd Aus-AID- funded pilot project ’Development of a district-based model for the palliative care of terminally ill cancer patients’ in Dhar. It culminated in the training of more than 2000 primary health workers, nursing staff, and doctors.

2000

First free cancer surgery camp held at the Jhabua district hospital by a multi-specialty surgical team from ICF, with the support of the Jhabua districtadministration. Since then, more than 32 such camps have been held where more than 600 free cancer surgeries were performed.
The dharamshala constructed by Lions Club Indore Mahanagar becomes operational.

2001

MOU signed with the Oxford international Center for Palliative Care, a WHO collaborating center for palliative care.

2002

WHO funded Palliative Care Sensitization programme for doctors from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan & Gujarat conducted successfully.

2003

The sons of late Shri Arvind Mungre, one based in Belgium and the other in Indore, give a donation in his memory.
Dr. KA Dinshaw, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai makes a 3-day visit to review our outreach work.

2004

Successful conduct of 2 WHO funded palliative care sensitization programmes for doctors from Rajasthan and Chattisgarh at Jaipur and Raipur respectively.

2006

The Rotary Club of Indore North (RI-Dist-3040) & Rotary Club of Seoul Poukak (Korea) (RI-Dist-3650) donate an ambulance-cum-patient carrier under the Matching Grant Program of the Rotary Foundation.

2007

The Eldorado 78 decommissioned after having successfully treated 3053 patients of which 1218 were treated completely free while 623 were given partial waiver of charges.

2008

The Bhabhatron II, an indigenously designed and manufactured cobalt unit, starts treating patients at IIHNO. The Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, gave a grant-in-aid of Rs. 1.25 crore for the purchase of this unit.

2009

Hon’ble President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil, presents a citation to Dr. Digpal Dharkar, at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, in recognition of his guidance and support to the Amravati Cancer Foundation that was started by. Dr. Rajinder Singh Arora.

2010

Thanks to the kind initiative of Mr.CR Bhouraskar, the Vatsala & Narayan Bhouraskar Public Charitable Trust merged with ICF. It was also thanks to him that, in 1995, that this trust allowed us to use their bungalow for our activities.
Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of State, Commerce and Industry, laid the foundation stone for the Siddharth III linear accelerator center. The linear accelerator was gifted by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of
India.
Started in-patients’ wards & a minor operation theater, both equipped with the support of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

2011

Donation received from the Hon’ble Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

2012

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan makes a special visit to meet the operated patients and to thank the medical team at the culmination of a very successful breast cancer camp in Ujjain division.

2013

Hospice and palliative care center ‘Kirpalaya’ started.
The students of the Emerald Heights International School, Indore, and 8 celebrated artists of MARM came together to help the poor cancer patients at IIHNO.

2014

Smt. Sumitra Mahajan, Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, inaugurates the Siddharth III linear accelerator center along with Dr.Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, and Dr.Narottam Mishra, Minister of Health, state government of Madhya Pradesh.

2015

Received 1st CSR support from Barbeque-Nation Hospitality Limited.

2016

3rd support received from the State Bank of India under their CSR programme.

2017

Started the Geets & Dilip Khale Cancer Registry at IIHNO. Dr.Shubhada Chiplunkar, Director, ACTREC, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, inaugurated this hospital based cancer registry, the unique feature of which is that it documents treatment costs as well.

2018

Organized a fortnight-long home-to-home Oral Cancer Prevention Survey in Pigdamber village to identify high-risk precancerous
conditions for oral cancer & to detect pre-cancer & high risk to tobacco addict population. The survey was done by Dr. Shradha Jaiswal, Dr.
Rajeev Shrivastva, their students, and IIHNO staff.
Students under the American Exchange Programme of American Field Service (ASF) along with students of Emerald Heights International School, St. Raphael’s, Vidya Sagar, Indore Public School, and Queens College do campus cleaning as part of their community service work.

2019

110 screened at Oral Cancer Prevention 2-day camp organized by Ermitage International School of France, Emerald Heights International School, with dental volunteers from ICF, at Emerald Heights International School, Khajrana, and Dewas.
10-day CME on palliative care held for doctors of the state health delivery system.
Orientation programmes held for doctors and other medical staff on how to conduct door-to-door surveys for oral and breast cancer in each of the 8 districts of Indore division.
A 10-day CME on palliative care held for doctors of the state health delivery system
As a part of the community service segment of the Round Square
International Conference 2019, students from 156 schools from 34 countries painted the boundary wall of the institute, planted trees, and participated in a cancer awareness run.

2020

Certificate course in palliative care conducted for doctors and nurses in collaboration with Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth
Vishwavidyalaya.
Working at the institute changed in line with the COVID-19 protocol without missing a single day’s treatment of our radiotherapy patients.
Webinars, the new normal, on cancer awareness held for members of Friends of ICF Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya Chapter and the employees of Moira group.
Virtual release by Mr. Shankar Lalwani, M.P. Indore, of ‘Covid kaal mein cancer ka upchaar’ a patient guide in Hindi on cancer treatment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

2021

150 doctors from 14 government medical colleges participated in a webinar on “Early Integration of Palliative Care” organized on World Cancer Day, in cooperation with Cipla Foundation.
Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia virtually launched the Cancer Sanket app. On the occasion, Dr. Anil D’Cruz, Chairman, UICC, Geneva, called it timely.
A book on ICF’s journey, “Power of Hope Autobiography of a Cancer Centre” was brought out by Hachette India. Written by Anshu Dogra with Dr. Digpal Dharkar, the book has a foreword by Dr. Jatin Shah.
Shri Lalwani, Indore MP, launched a cancer awareness song in Hindi on the National Cancer Day.

2022

On World Cancer Day, a cancer awareness webinar was held for staff of the Madhya Pradesh forest Department, residents of forest villages (van gram) and joint forest management committees from Indore, Dhar, Alirajpur, Jhabua, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Sendhwa, Khargone,
Barwani, Badwah, Ujjain, Ratlam, Mandsaur, Neemuch, Shajapur and Dewas (16 forest circles). A total of 1022 (786 men and 236 women)
attended the webinar. 455 downloaded the Cancer Sanket app.
Digital X-ray machine inaugurated by Rotary District 3060 PDG Ashish Ajmera, Dhulia, Maharashtra, District Governor, Shri Jinendra
Jain; Chairperson Public Image, Rotary District, Dr. Gajendra Narang. The machine came as a gift under the Rotary Global Grant with donations from Shri SP Bansal in the memory of his mother, Smt. Mohini Bansal.
Shri Shankar Lalwani, MP, Indore inaugurated the Dhanwantari Ayurveda medical center for symptom control on National Cancer
Day. This facility will be run in technical association with the Transdisciplinary University, Bengaluru.
Photobiomodulation therapy, the use of low energy lasers, is fast emerging as an integral part of the armamentarium of measures to manage side effects of cancer treatment. In the line with the emerging evidence, IIHNO took the leading Madhya Pradesh and probably many other states of the country as well, to use this technique to manage radiation induced mucositis, thanks to the guidance of ICF’s Friend from France, Radiation Oncologist, Prof. Dr. Rene Jean Bensadoun, President of World Association of photobiomodulation therapy.

2023

Seminar of Oncology Nursing (three half days) organized for 53 BSc Nursing final year students.
Lawns developed in front of the main building and dharamshala to provide a peaceful retreat, where patients and their caregivers can sit, relax, enjoy their meals. An oasis designed to enhance comfort and support recovery.
International workshop on photobiomodulation therapy in head and neck cancer with national & international faculty. Held in online and offline mode, the highlight of the workshop, attended by 44 participants from all over the country, were the live demonstrations of photobiomodulation therapy.
Seminar on supportive care in cancer held. Lead faculty was Dr.Paolo Bossi, Associate Professor, Medical Oncology, Milan.
Launched, the VS Mahesh Digital Library for patients, their caregivers and the medical staff at IIHNO.

2024

Training programme on early signs of cancer including breast cancer for 204 anganwadi karyakarta from the rural areas of Indore
district, from Kishnaganj, Rau, Sharmik Colony, Rangwasa, Patel Colony Pigdamber, Harsola, Umariya, Malviyanagar, Bada Bazar, Sirpur,
Machla, Hukumkhedi, Borkhidi, Bijalpur and Tejajinagar. The above locations are approximately 10-12 kms from our institution. These
anganwadi karykarta go from house to house and are often the first station of healthcare delivery in India and training them should ensure
last post-delivery of the message of the importance of early detection and scientific treatment.
Cancer detection camps held in Rewa & Shahdol divisions. The Rewa division team screened 120 904 and identified 1072 probable oral cancer cases and 682 probable breast cancer cases while the team from Shahdol division that has a smaller population, screened 11 641
and identified 160 probable oral cancer cases and 46 breast cancer cases. The ICF team of experts then examined the identified cases
over a 2-day camp in Rewa and a 1-day camp in Shahdol.