Bangladesh Cancer Aid Trust provides free care for patients in Dhaka

The Bangladesh Cancer Aid Trust (BANCAT) provides free accommodation, meals, and medical transport for cancer patients at Mosabbir Memorial Alok Nibash in the Bashundhara Residential Area of Dhaka.

The organization offers these services to help families who cannot afford the high costs of cancer treatment and living expenses in the capital.

Families like those of Shraddha Biswas, a five-year-old girl with blood cancer, use the facility to stay during their daughter's treatment at the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital. The residence provides a structured routine where staff monitor medication, offer counseling, and provide an ambulance to move patients to various hospitals. The facility also includes a project called Alok Kantha, where patients and their relatives learn to sew quilts and other items.

The organization sells these products at a supermarket chain and shares the earnings with the women who make them. This initiative helps residents gain skills to earn a living after they return to their homes. Nazmus Ahmed Albab, a businessman who survived blood cancer in 2011, founded BANCAT to support others who lacked the resources for care. The organization now supports more than 2,500 people affected by cancer through a network of over 500 donors.

BANCAT plans to expand its reach by building a dedicated cancer care village called Alok Bosoti in Manikganj.