A medical crowdfunding platform called Right to Live is looking for donors to help those struggling with healthcare expenses in India.
The Bangalore-based platform is on a mission to create a transparent healthcare network that will enable financial donors, organizations, the corporate section and the government to come together to raise funds for the underprivileged.
Sharing how the platform’s history, Right to Live’s team stated:
“A young individual named Shashi Kiran suffering stage five chronic kidney disease approached the Kote foundation for a financial donation for his kidney replacement. Raghurama Kote, the founder of Kote Foundation along with CIBER India employees, as a part of CIBER India’s “CIBER CARES” initiative raised INR three lakhs for the treatment.
“Raghurama Kote was deeply touched by Shashi Kiran’s istuation and realized that there was no platform for innumerable people like Shashi Kiran where they can raise money for expensive health treatment. The fund raising also made him realize that many people are willing to aid people in need of medical help, but were frustrated by a lack of governance and transparency.
“Thus, he envisioned ‘Right to Live’ – a platform governed by transparency wherein the less privileged would connect with financial donors, hospitals, doctors, government, charitable organizations and corporations. This would be an integrated network, which people can approach for assistance and where financial donors can verify the authenticity of the request. It would provide the assurance of channelizing the donations to the right cause.”
During a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Kote explained:
“We live in a world where everyone disbelieves each other; if a beggar is on the street we may not believe him to be poor. We’re interested in the circle of trust model. If we each know 100 people, we can campaign for one patient.”
In regards to India’s government healthcare assistance, Kote went on to add that there needs to be more help:
“Given India’s population and poverty, people who earn a decent amount have a social obligation to help poor patients. The government can’t solve all our problems and if you look at a a city like Bangalore, there’s a thriving middle and upper class that are happy and willing to donate. There are one million people working in IT. If they give Rs 250 a month, that could be our target – they just need a channel and that’s what we provide.”