RC Madras Chenna Patna rolls out Mellinam Project

Rotary Club of Madras Chenna Patna’s maiden global grant project Mellinam to help detect breast cancer was launched by State Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Minister P. Geetha Jeevan.

In the first three months of its pilot run, the project has touched the hearts of over 3,300 women in Chennai city. The Minister was very appreciative of the project and reinforced how it aligned with the women health focus of the state of Tamil Nadu.

The project is being implemented across  Chennai in partnership with four nursing colleges namely  Umayal Achi College of Nursing, Madha College of Nursing, M.A.Chidambaram College of Nursing, Sree Balaji College of Nursing   and leveraging their primary health centers across Chennai.

This Rs.37.50 lakh plus Global Grant Rotary project is being done in partnership with Rotary International District 3232, Canadian Rotary clubs and Rotary Foundation USA. The technology partner is UE Life sciences that has provided highly innovative equipment to detect breast abnormalities without using X-ray radiation. This enables screening women across age groups of 30 to 70 very safely.

Targeting about 14,000 women over this year, the project was launched in PHCs successfully in early February 2022 and more than 3,300 women have already been scanned in a short duration of three months. A few positive detections have been referred to Penn Nalam NGO that specializes in cancer treatment for women.

The project is chaired by Rotarian Dr Annie Grace, Registrar of Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council. She is supported by Rotarian Praveen Mehra, Chairman of global grant projects and Rotarian Ram Kevalur. 

Rotary’s played a key role in polio elimination globally. Similarly, Rotary  is focused on playing a key role in enabling early detection of breast cancer and avoiding premature deaths.