Tibet Relief Fund is urgently seeking funding for ‘Help on Hand’ healthcare project in Chandigarh in Punjab, northern India. The project is run voluntarily by a Tibetan woman commonly known as the 'Tibetan Mother Teresa’ and provides a lifeline for hundreds of Tibetans in need of urgent medical treatment.

Each year, hundreds of Tibetans come to Chandigarh seeking medical treatment from the city’s renowned hospitals, often having travelled thousands of miles from across India, Nepal and even Tibet.

Usually without friends or family nearby to support them, with limited funds and frequently unable to understand the English and Indian languages spoken by doctors and hospital staff; patients encounter numerous problems including finding or paying for accommodation, arranging or attending hospital appointments and understanding or funding their diagnoses and treatments.

The Help on Hand project sees up to 15 patients arrive at Tsering’s residence each day, at any hour, requiring urgent medical help and assistance. Tsering and her sister, both of whom work unpaid and are on call 24 hours a day, assist patients with the following:

·         Arranging accommodation for patients and when necessary, their accompanying relatives and dependents

·         Arranging transport to and from hospital

·         Arranging appointments and consultations with hospitals and doctors, attending and assisting with paperwork

·         Interpreting between patients and doctors

·         Collecting prescriptions and assisting patients in taking their medication correctly

·         Arranging blood and organ donors when necessary

·         Making regular visits to see hospitalised patients, liasing with medical staff and monitoring patients’ needs and progress

·         Shopping for patients’ food and helping with special diets

·         Assisting with or arranging educational support for young patients, and young relatives of adult patients, to ensure their studies do not suffer

·         Offering emotional support to patients (fundamental before and after operations and major procedures)

·         Staying in regular contact with former patients, offering advice and sending medication

·         Arranging funerals (in Tibetan custom) when necessary

·         Through an emergency fund, the project also pays for urgent medical treatment and surgery for those with life-threatening illnesses who are unable to afford to pay for it themselves

This lifesaving project is now in serious threat of closure due to lack of funds and we urgently need your support. Please give whatever you can. Thank you

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