Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey today appealed to the private sector to contribute financially to the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi to fight cancer in the country.

At an event organised by industry body Assocham here, the minister said that it is the social responsibility of the private sector to help prevent cancer."On this occasion, the minister has urged the corporate sector that it is their social responsibility to contribute some portion from its profits to the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi to prevent cancer," the minister was quoted as saying in an official statement.

Choubey said that the corporate sector should help run hospitals and mobile banks on a public-private partnership model to treat cancer to help the poor.The Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi provides for financial assistance to poor patients suffering from major life threatening diseases such as cancer.In another event, he pledged to donate his eyes.