The builder's path
For: Families in Mumbai caring for someone with a life-limiting illness can't easily find palliative care they can use.
“The true creator is necessity, which is the mother of our invention.”
Routes to a solution
Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Maharashtra.
Step 1
Join an impact incubator
Shape a model that pays for itself without excluding the people who need it.
IIT Bombay's incubator for technology startups.
Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.
Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Step 2
Raise patient capital
Impact funds and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Incubator for social enterprises in health, agriculture and livelihoods.
Lab-to-market platform for science and technology aimed at social problems.
Incubator and investor at IIM Ahmedabad, with impact programmes.
Patient capital and fellowships for enterprises serving low-income communities.
Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.
Civic health services and the seven administrative divisions.
National palliative care organisation with resources on services and training.
Runs a free palliative centre in Mahalaxmi and is partnering with the BMC on the new centres.
Will run the seven civic palliative and daycare centres with the foundation.
Starter prompt
Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Problem: Families in Mumbai caring for someone with a life-limiting illness can't easily find palliative care they can use. Who it hurts: Patients with chronic and life-limiting conditions (neurological, lung, kidney, liver disease and others) and the family members who care for them at home. The moment it hurts: When doctors say a cure is no longer the goal and the family has to find pain relief, therapy and support close to home. What people do today: Families rely on word of mouth and a few free centres; most people who need palliative care in Maharashtra never get comprehensive care. Why it is still unsolved: Palliative services are scattered across hospitals, trusts and home-care teams, many are not listed anywhere, and new civic centres are only now being planned. What solved looks like: A free, multilingual finder for Mumbai where a caregiver enters the patient's condition, ward and needs (pain, physiotherapy, home visits, daycare) and gets nearby palliative and daycare services with cost, eligibility and contact details, kept current with providers and the BMC. Where: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions. Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use. Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.
Talk to the people who live it before you build.
“Arise, awake; seek out the wise and learn.”
उत्तिष्ठत जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत
uttiṣṭhata jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata
Get a working version in front of people fast.
Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.
“The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
Open data that fits this problem.
“Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light.”
असतो मा सद्गमय। तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय।
asato mā sad gamaya, tamaso mā jyotir gamaya
Tools matched to what this problem needs.
“Keep moving, keep moving.”
चरैवेति चरैवेति
caraiveti caraiveti
Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.
“While we teach, we learn.”
Homines dum docent discunt.
Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.