The Person-to-Person Scheme

Funding treatment for patients unable to pay their medical bills at Christian Medical College, Vellore

In spite of CMC working hard to minimise treatment costs, some patients are still not able to afford treatment. The Person to Person (PTP) scheme provides an opportunity to contribute to the cost of a specific patient’s care.

Donors give money to the PTP scheme, which is used to provide small targeted grants (up to Rs 10,000 or approximately £100) to help pay the hospital bill for specific patients. Often this treatment is life-saving.

One of the key benefits of the PTP scheme is the matched funding provided by CMC. CMC will increase your donation up to four-fold to provide a patient grant. Your donation can also be Gift Aided (if you are a UK tax payer). This means a £16 donation can be increased to £20 through Gift Aid, and then CMC will add four times this to give a grant of up to £100 to pay for the treatment of a deserving patient at the hospital. This could pay for a short admission for an uncomplicated urinary tract infection or other acute fevers in the medical and paediatric wards.

Matched funding is available for donations including Gift Aid of up to £100, to which CMC will add up to £400 making a total of £500 for the patient and multiplying your gift five times. This would pay for a moderate operation such as a hernia or caesarean section with associated pre and post-operative care.

How is the scheme run?

The PTP scheme is organised and implemented within the hospital. Medical or nursing staff or social workers identify patients in their clinical department who cannot afford to pay their bills and who could be helped by the PTP scheme. CMC bears the cost of administering the programme, so every penny given goes directly to help poor patients.

Feedback to the donor

Each month, CMC sends a report by email to the donors who made contributions in that month. This includes a summary of all the patients who were supported by Friends of Vellore UK donors and a patient story demonstrating the impact it made to one of the patients. Examples are below:

Examples where PTP made a difference

Stories of some people who were helped by the PTP scheme can be found here:

• Suresh’s story
• Vadivelu’s story

Make a donation

If you would like to contribute to the PTP Scheme, information on how to donate is here. Please indicate that your donation is for the PTP scheme.

We have promotional leaflets available which you can download here or contact us to request some in the post.

Thank you for your support – it means so much to those who desperately need medical treatment but cannot afford to pay for it.