The Big B of Indian cinema Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday formally launched the Jeevarogya Medical Welfare campaign, set up to help the poor under the aegis of Oscar winner Resul Pookutty and Lakshmi Hospital in Kochi.

Under the Jeevarogya programme, the two agencies will provide free medical treatment for 3,000 persons, heart surgery for 30 and free surgeries for another 300. Bachchan also made a contribution of Rs. 11 lakh.

Bachchan said he had a special right to speak about healthcare as he was “a victim of illness and accident” and he was in and out of intensive care units on several occasions. “I had the means to be treated outside the country. I also have the good faith in the medical fraternity in India,” he added. Bachchan also had a word of appreciation for Pookutty for mobilising resources for such ventures.

Remembering his student days at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, which made the Oscar dream a reality, Pookutty said education at the institute would be an unaffordable affair for a student hailing from the middle class. He viewed the venture as an opportunity “to give back to society what he got in life.”