Navya, online expert opinion service for cancer care from Tata Memorial Centre, will provide patients with the best treatment options within 24 hours~

Expert Opinion for Cancer Care in 24 hours

~Navya, online expert opinion service for cancer care from Tata Memorial Centre, will provide patients with the best treatment options within 24 hours~

India, 2 March, 2017: TMC NCG Online - Navya Expert Opinion Service ushers in a revolutionary approach in cancer care by empowering patients with critical information within 24 hours. This enables families make informed decisions with adequate inputs from oncologists at Tata Memorial Centre and National Cancer Grid (including cancer centers like AIIMS, Kidwai, Max Hospital, etc.). This service, available at www.navya.care, allows patients to upload their medical test reports and obtain a response from world-renowned experts within 24 hours, saving precious time that is often spent in travel and getting doctor appointments.

Balancing the need to act quickly while ensuring that the decision is made with all relevant expert inputs is when Navya's Online Expert Opinion Service becomes a powerful ally. The quick turnaround is owed to the expert decision system that uses clinical informatics, predictive analytics and machine learning to recommend evidence and experience-based expert treatment decisions, similar to decisions made by expert tumor boards. The system has been validated in clinical trials at TMC and the University of California Olive View Medical Centre, showing 98 percent agreement between the system’s decisions and the tumor boards’ decisions. These results have been published at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

While diagnosing the presence of cancer is a standard process, treatment is highly specialized and the number of experts capable of managing complex cases is few. Many types of cancers are curable or can be managed for several years if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. Choosing the right therapy can be the difference between the best possible outcome and failed treatment.

Gitika Srivastava, Founder of Navya, says: "Most people who have had any experience with cancer are aware that given time and logistical constraints, it is not always feasible to go to tertiary care centers in metropolitan cities at each treatment decision point. Given the importance of treatment decisions in yielding the best possible outcomes, we would urge everyone to get an expert opinion through TMC NCG Online.”

By working with Navya, patients can receive the best possible treatment opinion, which includes the therapy most suited (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy) as well as dosage, duration, side effects and other details pertinent to the treatment. The detailed report, that answers all questions, asked by the patient in language that is simple to understand, can then be shared with the local oncologist to proceed with the treatment locally.  

“We understand the anxiety in knowing what to do as quickly as possible, and hence have strived to ensure that we facilitate the opinion from the experts within 24 hours of getting all necessary medical reports. When deciding on treatment, you and your oncologist can be assured that the opinion rests on the experience of world renowned cancer experts and follows evidence-based protocols best suited to your specific case,” Gitika added.

About Navya:  

Navya is a clinical informatics and patient services organization with a unique understanding of cancer patients and oncologists and a core commitment to cancer care. With a proven track record of successfully implementing innovative solutions that are low cost and effective, Navya is the first to develop technology systems specific to Indian cancer data for use by cancer patients and oncologists in India.  (www.navya.care)

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Seven countries share models of universal healthcare on first day of the pathbreaking Health Conference organized by Tata Memorial Centre

Seven countries share models of universal healthcare on first day of the pathbreaking Health Conference organized by Tata Memorial Centre

Photo Caption: Dr. R. A. Badwe, Director, TMC, discussing the TMC model as part of the session on ‘Sustainable models of Health Institutions’ at the 75th anniversary of the Tata Memorial Centre at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai on Friday.

Sustainability, efficiency, accountability, scalability and government spending discussed as key for India to meet its 2030 UHC goals

January 27, 2017: Dr. Rajendra Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, inaugurated a 3-day healthcare conference today, held to mark the institution’s platinum jubilee, at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. The conference, themed “Healthcare: A Commodity or Basic Human Need?”, brings together National and International representatives of health systems across the world, to address this very relevant question.

In his welcome speech, Dr. Rajendra Badwe, Director, TMC, said, “Just like a business, a successful healthcare model requires accountability, affordability, accessibility and sustainability, the only difference being, in the case of healthcare, our primary aim is to reduce customers. This can only be achieved with the support and commitment of all stakeholders, and this is what we hope to achieve through our conference.”

Day one of the conference brought together leading health experts from Brazil, Thailand, Zambia, Japan, Iran, France and Cuba, who shared examples of their country’s health systems and efforts to achieve universal health coverage. The various opportunities and challenges for a country on the road to UHC were discussed and deliberated, a discussion that has enormous national implications for India, in its journey to achieve the SDG goal of universal health coverage by 2030.

Sanjay Oak, Former Director (Medical Education & Major Hospitals), MCGM, said “Today, it has become increasingly evident that an efficient public private model is crucial to provide accessible and affordable healthcare, especially in a developing country like India. For us to achieve UHC, we must focus on the sharing of ultra-high cost equipment and resources, along with evolving a sustainable PPP model that is suited to meet our country’s health needs.”

Richard Sullivan, Director of the Institute of Cancer Policy at King’s Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, London, added, “It is imperative to have yardsticks to measure parameters such as quality, access and affordability, to arrive at a health model that can efficiently deliver healthcare to every region of the country. We tend to measure what is easy, but not what we need to. Our focus should not be on whether the public or private sector does it better, but on identifying the opportunities and gaps within each model, which will in turn help improve healthcare delivery uniformly, by a great degree.”

Commenting on the Conference, Mr. R. K. Krishnakumar, Trustee, Tata Trusts, said, “Tata Memorial Hospital was instituted by Tata Trusts and it is indeed an honor for us to co-host this conference that marks its platinum jubilee celebration. Over the years, Tata Trusts has been working relentlessly to ensure the provision of equitable, affordable, high quality and sustainable healthcare that is universally accessible using technology, system strengthening, research and other international best practices. We are positive that the outcome of this conference will only help to strengthen this endeavor.”

About Tata Memorial Centre  

Tata Memorial Centre is the premier cancer care facility in India which has been at the forefront in the fight against cancer since the past 75 years. The mandate and objective of the centre is to provide comprehensive care in the field of cancer which includes Education, Awareness, Prevention, Treatment, Rehabilitation and Palliation etc.

Approximately 200 new cases everyday come from all over India and also from outside the country. Tata Memorial Hospital is a Grant in Aid Institution under the Dept. of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India and it treats 60% of the cancer patients almost free of charge.

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Rural Maharashtra at the forefront in battle against tobacco; organisations, people undertaking exemplary work against menace

Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation awards grants to individuals and NGOs working at grassroots for tobacco-control at meet organised jointly with Salaam Mumbai Foundation, Tata Memorial Centre

Mumbai, September 21 2016: Rural Maharashtra is leading the crusade against tobacco with organisations and individuals from the grassroots taking up the cudgels to make the state free of the menace.


On Wednesday, five NGOs and three individuals from the state were honoured by the Salaam Mumbai Foundation and Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation at a ceremony held at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Parel. The event was organised in association with the Tata Memorial Centre and was part of Salaam Mumbai Foundation’s Tambakhu Mukt Maharashtra Abhiyan that aims to make Maharashtra a tobacco-free state.

Salaam Mumbai Foundation is the rural outreach programme of the NGO Salaam Bombay Foundation. It was started in the year 2007 with the primary objective of creating awareness about the health hazards of tobacco and in turn reducing consumption rates across the state. Ever since its inception,  Salaam Mumbai Foundation has been harnessing the capacity of state and local institutions  like Zilla Parishad schools, village health workers, aanganwadi and other public health workers appointed by the state government, gram panchayats, local NGOs, block and district level education officers and other local influencers. Its team was recently felicitated at the fourth state-level Vyasanmukti Sammelan by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Maharashtra for its initiatives in Gondia district.

Eminent personalities including Social Justice Minister Shri Rajkumar Badole, Founder, Salaam Bombay Foundation Padmini Somani and Head & Neck Surgeon, Tata Memorial Hospital, Pankaj Chaturvedi, were present on the occasion.


The ceremony culminated in the awarding of special grants to the individuals and NGOs by the Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation. Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation had received a total of 36 applications – 18 for the NGO category and 18 for the individual category – for the Tobacco-free India awards and grants from across India. Of these, 7 NGOs and 14 individuals were from Maharashtra.

The state-level meet on Wednesday was attended by around 175 people from across the country not just to honour the work of the awardees, but also to join hands in taking forward the mission of Tambakhu Mukt Maharashtra Abhiyan.


Rajashree Kadam, VP, Operations, Salaam Bombay Foundation said, “Individuals as well as organisations are doing excellent work on tobacco control in the rural parts of Maharashtra where the consumption is high. Their work needs to reach more and more people. Hence, we invited diverse stakeholders from government departments and provided a platform for those with a common cause to come together and join hands mainly to work at the grassroot level.”


Leni Chaudhuri, Programme Head, Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation, “We initiated this programme of awarding grants to honour the work of those who are spreading the message of tobacco-control especially in areas where the issue has become a serious threat. Once the grant has been provided, we will continue to work closely with them through Salaam Mumbai Foundation because we want them to work on community-based issues while involving the community actively.”

Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation instituted this grant in 2010 to encourage NGOS and individuals from rural areas of Maharashtra to work in the field of tobacco control. 21 NGOs and 19 individuals have been awarded this grant so far. Those who have been awarded the grant will be required to undertake a holistic approach towards tobacco-control including participating in workshops organised by Salaam Mumbai Foundation, recruiting a full-time worker to demonstrate programmes at schools and in the villages, conducting workshops for teachers and sarpanch, conducting cluster coordinators’ meeting once in a year at district and block level etc. 

About Salaam Bombay Foundation

Salaam Bombay children are typically 12 to 17-year-old, live in Mumbai’s over crowded slums, go to a government school, have multiple responsibilities and live a highly pressured, stressful childhood. Meager and fluctuating incomes typically force them out of the school system as soon as they are deemed capable of contributing to the family income or of doing domestic chores. Most become trapped in unskilled, low-paying jobs with few prospects for growth. It also deters their ability to stay in school, complete their education and contribute to the organized work force.

Given these ground realities, The Salaam Bombay Academy of the Arts is a refuge for children whose lives are bereft of opportunities and facilities, of creative spaces and personal attention. The Academy addresses the lack of life skills and vocational skills by bringing world-class training in dance, music and theatre to children in government schools. It plays a pivotal role in identifying latent talent and giving underprivileged children the opportunity to develop this talent. This increases their confidence and self-esteem and they are now encouraged to consider a vocation in the Arts, an option they could not avail of before.

Having trained over 1,240 children in the Arts, Salaam Bombay has expanded its skills training initiative to include 21st century employment relevant skills such as Retail Management, Hospitality, Mobile Repair, Home Appliance Repair, Hair Care and Beauty, amongst others.  Children are equipped with skills designed to grab the attention of future employers.  Now they can prepare for sustainable careers in the future while staying in school.


About Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation

Narotam Sekhsaria Foundation (NSF) is a foundation dedicated to empower not-for-profit organizations and social entrepreneurs to make a positive, lasting and sustainable impact on society by promoting excellence among individuals, improving the quality of life for socially and economically disadvantaged communities, and promoting and protecting Indian traditions. NSF has supported charitable and philanthropic initiatives and partnered with developmental enterprises in the areas of education, health and livelihood. The foundation is involved in cancer care and tobacco-control activities and is providing technical and financial support to LifeFirst

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