About WCI

Womens Cancer Initiative – Tata Memorial Hospital (WCl-TMH) is a non profit NGO led by, Dir. Tata Memorial Center. Dr. R.A. Badwe (President), Mrs. Devieka Bhojwani (Vice-President) and Dr. Sudeep Gupta (General Secretary) along with other cancer physicians & surgeons and volunteers.

The Initiative's core activity comprises material support of socially and economically disadvantaged women who are diagnosed to have breast and gynecological cancers. The Initiative has supported hundreds of such women to complete their prescribed treatment with chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, radiation therapy, surgery and rehabilitation therapy. The Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) is a grant-in-aid Institution of the Government of India that is run under the supervision of the Department of Atomic Energy. It comprises of the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and the Advanced Centre for Training Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC). The TMC has a 70 year long and proud history of service, education and research in the field of cancer.

Approximately 25000 new cancer patients are registered in TMH every year, the majority belonging to the underprivileged sections of the society. The Women's Cancer Initiative-Tata Memorial Hospital (WCI-TMH) was started in 2003 as a partnership between Devieka Bhojwani (herself a breast cancer survivor and a prominent social activist of Mumbai) and Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India.

In addition the Initiative also organizes the Annual WCI-TMH Breast and Gynecological Cancer Conference in October that is the leading conference on this subject in India. Prominent oncologists from India and abroad deliberate on a focused theme in each conference. For the last four years, the Initiative has also supported high quality translational research projects in the subjects of its mandate, being carried out by clinicians and scientists in Tata Memorial Centre. The supported projects deal with questions in breast and gynecological cancers that are of immediate relevance to patients in India.

In support of its above mentioned activities, WCI-TMH has received generous support from prominent business houses, social and philanthropic organizations, film, music and theatre personalities, and others. All donations to WCI-TMH (denominated in INR) are exempt from tax under section 80G of the Indian Income Tax Act.