Purnota Dutta Bahl

Some Lesser Known Facts About Purnota Dutta Bahl

• Purnota Dutta Bahl is the founder and CEO of “Cuddles Foundation,” India’s one of the renowned NGOs that concentrates on the unrecognised area of nutrition for cancer-afflicted children.

• After completing her post-graduation, Purnota worked with ‘Hindustan Times’ as a brand manager from 2006 to 2008.

• In 2008, she worked as the head of the marketing team of Shaadi.com (People Interactive) in Mumbai.

• Purnota once visited Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai which changed her life completely. Sharing this incident in an interview, she said,

My journey started with a visit to Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai when I came across families that go to cities like Mumbai and New Delhi to seek treatment. There I happened to see a little girl who reminded me so much of my daughter who was exactly the same age. That was the turning point in my life where I decided I had to do something.”

• She started helping cancer affected children by donating a part of her income, but later, she thought of doing something bigger for them.

• She quit her job and started Cuddles Foundation in 2012, with an aim to provide nutrition support to children suffering from cancer. She was supported by a few volunteers who provided funds to run the NGO.

• This foundation works in the partnership with the government and charity-based hospitals such as Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, SGPGI in Lucknow, AIIMS in New Delhi, and NRS Medical College in Kolkata.

• Cuddles Foundation provides nutritional supplementation, mid-day meals in OPD, and ration baskets to the needy families.

  

• Purnota’s foundation has employed 24 trained nutritionists on a payroll that works in the hospitals with the pediatric oncology team. Cuddles Foundation team consists of female members only; right from executive directors to paediatric nutritionists.

• Cuddles Foundation works with more than 21 hospitals in India serving over 35000 children.

• In 2018, Cuddles developed their own mobile app to provide appropriate counsel and aid to the parents.

• As per the TATA Memorial Hospital’s reports, the nutritious food has helped in bringing down the percentage of children suffering from cancer.

• In an interview, Purnota shared one of her best experiences of her NGO’s journey, she said,

There was a boy Nandu who used to work part-time at a factory in the day and come for treatment during the evenings. Despite his illness and chemotherapy, Nandu had no choice but to work. The nutritionists from Cuddles came to his rescue. With their gentle encouragement and nutritional support, he finally quit his job. Today, having recovered he has started going to school with a noble dream of becoming a scientist to find the cure to a disease like cancer.”

• Purnota and her team are working with an aim to reach out to 80 per cent of the children fighting cancer in India and providing them with holistic nutrition support by 2020.

• Purnota’s foundation is supported by the Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor; as she is one of the fundraisers. She is also the brand ambassador of the NGO.

  

• On 22 November 2019, Purnota appeared on the Karamveer episode of KBC 11 along with Emraan Hashmi. The actor shared his experience when his son, Ayaan Hashmi, was suffering from cancer, and how Emraan and his family dealt with it.