Rama Majumdar of Sakher Bazar, Behala, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. She underwent a surgery and the subsequent cycles of chemotherapy.

The battle against cancer, however, has not stopped for her. Ever since her disease was detected, she has been donating chemotherapy drugs to poor patients.

On Tuesday, she was the first to donate drugs to the free cancer drug bank set up at Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital.

“Seeing the harrowing condition of patients at Medical College and Hospital, where she underwent treatment for cancer, Rama had decided to donate cancer drugs to those who cannot afford them,” said husband Ramesh Majumdar, a retired officer of West Bengal State Electricity Board.

The couple started donating drugs worth Rs 10,000 to Medical College every two months. “Later, we approached several clubs and voluntary organisations for raising funds. At times, we even bought medicines worth a lakh,” Majumdar recalled.

The Majumdars are not alone. Several other individuals and voluntary organisations have come forward to donate cancer drugs to the NRS drug bank. Oncolink and Fight Cancer are two such organisations.

“There’s a provision for supplying chemotherapy drugs free to indoor patients. But those in the outpatients’ department have to buy them from outside,” said Subir Ganguly, head of the radiotherapy department at NRS.

“The drug bank will help us provide medicines free to patients living below the poverty line,” Ganguly pointed out. The average cost for chemotherapy varies from Rs 2,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Doctors said there are 1.6 lakh cancer patients in the state and 65,000 individuals, including 10,000 in the city, are diagnosed with the disease every year.