How it began at Rural Health Care Foundation

Rural Health Care Foundation (RHCF) is an NGO that provides affordable and sustainable primary healthcare to low income groups in West Bengal, having reached out to over 10 lakh patients till date. It prides itself on its organisational working model that is scalable, sustainable and can be replicated and applied to different rurally deprived communities around the world.

RHCF was set up by brothers Anant and Late Arun Nevatia, in continuation of the philanthropic legacy of their late father. Arun Nevatia, was diagnosed with Cancer at the age of ten and struggled through treatment all his life until 2013, when he sadly passed away.

Arun’s life was not completely spent in hospitals though. After passing high school with flying colours, he went on to study Maths at St. Xavier’s College. Arun realised that he owed his long and fruitful life to the fact that he could afford to pay for the best medical care, a privilege that the overwhelming majority of Indians do not have. His personal tragedy provided immense determination and his aim was to provide a sustainable system of healthcare to those in rural areas who were not as economically fortunate as him.

It is Anant, who is now president of RHCF. In 2007, the Mayapur Health Centre was opened in West Bengal and it received a phenomenal response. Within the first month of its opening, 8,000 patients came to be treated and this only furthered Arun’s ambitions to extend this project. The success of Mayapur paved the way for the formation of a public trust and in 2009 Rural Health Care Foundation was officially formed. RHCF now has seven healthcare centres in five districts of West Bengal.

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Aadeep