Milaap.org, India’s largest crowdfunding platform announceda major milestone achieved by its community of donors collectively raising Rs 2,040 cr on the platform through more than 85 lakh donations since its inception.
Of the total contributions on the platform, over 1 lakh India’s salaried professionals form a sizable contribution of around Rs 130 crores primarily to help people in need of funds for critical care medical treatments. The rising cost of treatment has made healthcare unaffordable for a large section of society.
Treatments for critical care are virtually off limits even for the middle class and prohibitive for the economically marginalized. Sharp inequalities in healthcare access is exacerbated by the very low penetration of medical insurance in the country.
According to Anoj Viswanatha, Co-Founder and President of Milaap.org, “As medical insurance has a very low penetration in the country, most citizens are forced to dig into their pockets to fund their treatments. This results in a situation where most citizens are forced to dig into their pockets to fund their treatments resulting in a vicious cycle of low savings and poor healthcare outcomes. In 2021, nearly 70 percent of healthcare expenditure was paid out-of-pocket by the patients and their families.”
In this context, the salaried class of corporate India has come through in a big way for people, especially their fellow colleagues, on the verge of exhausting their means while paying for medical care. To mitigate such situations, Milaap has facilitated an alternate way to fund healthcare. It provides donors a seamless and secure experience while ensuring that the contributions reach the intended beneficiary in a time efficient manner and receive tax benefits for the same. Over one lakh employees working with 3,000 companies contributed.
Sudden and critical medical emergencies have severely stressed their savings and employees across sectors - IT/ITES, manufacturing, BFSI and venture capital funded startups - have taken to crowdfunding as a means to cover healthcare expenditure partially or wholly.
