Inauguration of a ICICI Bethany Dialysis Centre at Bethany Medical Centre Anaikatti, Coimbatore

TANKER (Tamilnad Kidney Research) Foundation is a registered non-profit charitable Organization started in June 1993 with the aim of helping under-privileged patients with kidney disease by giving Subsidized Dialysis and one time financial help for medication, investigation and transplantation and spread awareness about kidney disease. TANKER cares for those, the underprivileged, who suffer with kidney problems of any kind, reversible or terminal, regardless of caste, creed, sex or religion.TANKER runs 14 dialysis units, 11 in Chennai and one each in Madurai, Vellore and Tiruppur. 

TANKER saw the need for a dialysis unit in Anaikatti, Coimbatore and gave guidance and support to Bethany Medical Centre to set up a unit with 3 machines for the underprivileged especially the tribal community there.The  ICICI Bethany Dialysis Centre, Anaikatti is supported by the ICICI Foundation with guidance from TANKER Foundation.

The dialysis machines and RO plant donated by ICICI Foundation were inaugurated by Mr. A. Ganesan , Regional Head, IB, Coimbatore and Mr. Michael Jenno, Zonal Head, ICICI Foundation and the Panchayat President , in the presence of Dr. Ruth James and Dr. Muralidhar , Bethany Medical Centre, Mr. Asif Iqbal, Project Manager, ICICI Foundation, Mr. Sumit Kumar, RHS, ICICI Bank , Mrs Latha Kumaraswami, Managing Trustee TANKER Foundation,Mrs Vasanthi Ravi, Head Admin TANKER Foundation and Mrs Geetha ,Head Dialysis units TANKER Foundation. This generous donation will benefit all underprivileged patients in and around Anaikatti,Coimbatore.

Dr Muralidharan who founded the  Bethany Medical Centre welcomed everyone and spoke about the humble beginnings of the centre and the need for medical care for the predominantly tribal community there.Mr. A. Ganesan of ICICI said that he was happy to be associated with Bethany Medical Centre and TANKER Foundation and appreciated the work they were doing for the needy.

Mrs Latha Kumaraswami, Managing Trustee of TANKER Foundation expressed TANKER's gratitude for ICICI's spontaneous and generous help to Bethany Medical Center for this dialysis unit.She gave an update on TANKER’s activities. She said that  since inception in 1993, almost 6 Lakhs dialysis have been given and Rs. 4 crores have been provided as assistance for medication, investigation and surgery costs. At present, 850 patients were benefitting through TANKER's 14 dialysis units. Almost 2 lakh people have been reached out to through the awareness programmes, and over 39,000 people had been screened for kidney disease. She was grateful to the TANKER Angels on Earth as TANKER's dedicated staff are referred to, CMCHIS ,  GCC, Rotary, Freemasons, Corporate donors, and individual donors.