AstraZeneca continues its commitment to fulfill the wishes of children living with critical illnesses by joining hands with ‘Make-A-Wish’ foundation in India
Pune: Make A Wish Foundation and AstraZeneca India Private Limited, a leading science-led biopharmaceutical company organized a fun-filled event in Pune for children suffering from critical illnesses such as Cancer. The event at an auditorium provided by Hotel Utsav saw a participation of about 25 children along with their parents.
Taking its promise of care forward, AstraZeneca India has joined hands with the ‘Make-A-Wish’ Foundation India to fulfill the wishes of about 500 children suffering from critical ailments across the country. The event organized in the city today marked the beginning of a series of 11 events planned across Goa, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Baroda in an effort to reach out as many children between the age of 3 to 18 years as possible and leave them with joyous memories. Commenting on this initiative, Dr. Anil Kukreja – V.P Medical Affairs & Regulatory, AstraZeneca India said, “We are delighted to bring back this initiative after a break due to the pandemic. It is nothing less than an honor to partner with Make-A-Wish and brings smiles to the faces of children dealing with life-threatening diseases. This initiative is a small gesture to deliver a burst of laughter for a moment to children.” Highlighting the organization’s focus on patient-centricity Dr. Kukreja added, “Our partnership with Make-A-Wish is an extension of two of our marquee campaigns Ganga Godavari initiative and New Normal Same Cancer (NNSC) where we are working with multiple influencers to organize camps across the country to encourage preventive healthcare check-ups to aid early diagnosis of cancer. Our parallel focus through the two campaigns is to enable adherence and continuity of cancer treatment”.
One of the happy parents at the event said, “Our heartfelt gratitude to Make-A-Wish India and AstraZeneca for showering their love and support to our child. Every child here is entitled to joy and it is overwhelming to see them happy as their wishes are being fulfilled. Even during the difficult period, we cherish such days when we see them smile”.
Make-A-Wish creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Together with the help of donors, supporters, staff, and volunteers, the foundation delivers hope and joy to children and their families when they need it the most. “Happy experiences help in improving both emotional and physical health to great extent. For over 25 years, Make-A-Wish is bringing hope and joy back into the lives of children with severe illnesses. A continuous association with AstraZeneca suggests that they concur with this thought process of spreading happiness in whatever way one can”, said Mr. Deepak Bhatia, CEO Make A Wish Foundation India “We are grateful to continue our work through such strategic partnerships to bring the power of wishing to children and their families when they need it most.” he added.
Doctors in Pune said, “It is overwhelming to witness the joy that children experience through such fun-filled engaging events especially when they are struggling to keep up with their health. Big congratulations to Make A Wish to continue the spree to support children with the help of like-minded organizations such as AstraZeneca that are aware of the importance of the continuity of such patient-centric initiatives”.
About AstraZeneca India Private Limited
AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three therapy areas – Oncology, Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism, and Respiratory. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries, and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide.
AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd. (AZIPL) is the Global Capability Centre for AstraZeneca with offices in Chennai and Bangalore. Established in 2014, AZIPL today has 3100+ employees catering to services including IT services, Global Business Services (GBS), and R&D Oncology among others. The center plays a key role in technology innovation and transformation projects enabling and empowering AstraZeneca’s core business processes – right from Discovery, Development, Production, Launches to Supply all the way through the value chain. For more details: www.astrazeneca.com/india
About Make A Wish India
Make-A-Wish Foundation® of India is a non-profit organization that has fulfilled 70,348 wishes in 25 years. The Foundation is dedicated to granting the most cherished wish of children between ages 3 and 18, diagnosed with a life-threatening medical condition, mostly cancer. It is a registered trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act. Make-A-Wish Foundation® of India is about to celebrate a very special occasion, its Silver Jubilee, in the year 2020 and aims to accomplish the goal to grant the wish of the 75,000th child.