NEW DELHI: In a gesture that deeply moved a top military veteran, PM Narendra Modi on Saturday personally reached out to Lt-General D S Hooda (retd) to assure him of all help in sourcing a new drug for his sister battling terminal cancer.
The PMO’s attention was drawn to the case by Lt-Gen Hooda’s elder sister, Sushma Singh (68), when she tweeted about the need for the drug called Sacituzumab Govitecan (Trodelvy), which has been approved in the US and Europe this year, for herself and many other women battling breast cancer in India.
Lt-Gen Hooda amplified the tweet with his own tweet to state his sister, whose husband was also in the Army, was “a cancer patient of several years with dwindling hope.” He said, “Keeping sentiments aside, approval of the new drug may give a fighting chance of survival to many like her.”

Lt-Gen Hooda, the former Northern Army commander, got a call from Modi within two hours. “I was honestly surprised and humbled. I told the PM that I have tears in my eyes. The PM said we will try and help her and do whatever we can,” he told TOI.
Soon after, an official also contacted his sister and asked her for the doctor’s prescription and other documents to take the case forward. Singh said she is undergoing treatment for “triple negative metastatic breast cancer, which has limited treatment options” at the Army (Research & Referral) Hospital in Delhi.
Requesting the PM to expedite the approval and purchase of the new drug for the Indian market, Singh said this would “grant a lease of life to me and several others who have exhausted all other options of treatment”.
By the time the DCGI approves the new drug for use in India and it reaches the Army hospital, “it can take several months and cost lots of lives which can be saved through your intervention only”, she said.