I came to know about Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) 19 years ago through a Pictionary game where my friend drew out a man with a stethoscope in dots and dashes. I lost the game, but MSF, fortunately, went ahead and won the Nobel Peace Prize that year. It also won the admiration of a generation of trainee doctors like me, and made us realise that providing medical care to people who need it the most requires commitment and unflinching dedication. So donating to MSF was a foregone conclusion. It was the least I could do for an organisation which provides healthcare to the most needy. Over the years I have followed MSF’s work on multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Mumbai and malnutrition in Bihar and Jharkhand. I have come to believe that the money I donate to MSF annually is money well-spent. Last year, I was involved in a fundraiser for MSF; it made me realise the difficulties the fundraising team goes through. I would, therefore, recommend MSF to every acquaintance willing to donate for a charitable cause. Without the participation of private donors, MSF would not be able to continue the awe-inspiring humanitarian work that they are involved in currently.
