Spirit of Humanity Awards given away

In what comes as a major encouragement for NGOs working in the field of healthcare, the 5th edition of the AmeriCares India Spirit of Humanity Awards 2014 felicitated six organisations on Wednesday.

A total of 20 NGOs were short listed across six categories: Child nutrition, Infections, Jury's choice, Neurology, Oncology service and Women's health.

Bhaktivedanta hospital of Mira Road received the award in the oncology category, followed by Sanjivani health and relief committee in diabetes category, St. Jude India childcare centres, Sankalp in Thalessimia, Shri Sadguru Seva Sangh trust in eye care, Rural health organisation in Women's health category and Apne Aap Women's collective in Jury's choice category.

"The Spirit of Humanity Awards were established in 2010 as India's first healthcare awards to honour and recognise individuals or non-profit organizations that have made outstanding contributions towards improving healthcare of the poor and needy," said Shripad Desai, managing director of AmeriCares India.

Desai added that the winners were picked on the basis of the number of programmes they conducted and the impact that they had on the society.

"Bhaktivendanta hospital is doing some great work in cancer. They have a special team for counselling patients and we were impressed by the way they gave palliative care. Same way, Sanjivani health and relief committee is reaching out to 1 lakh diabetes patients in Ahmedabad, which is commendable," said Desai.

Over 200 NGOs had sent their entries for the six categories. Nominations were open to Indian individuals (adults) and organisations (registered for at least three years). Screening of all nominations received was done by a committee which consisted of experts from fields including healthcare, social sector etc.

The winners were given a Rs1 lakh cheque, a trophy and a certificate.