All of us have seen people suffering from agonizing pain from cancer and its related complications.

Looking to this angle of cancer patients’ suffering, we had a vision to built and create palliative care facilities at the institute and on August 15, 2013, we started our hospice and palliative care unit, ‘Kirpalaya’. Palliative care is the active, total care of the person whose disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. The date is significant for us for 2 reasons; one it is on this day in 1947 that India won its independence and two this was the day in the year 1995 that the institute opened its doors to patients.

A group, Passionate Photographers of Indore, donated their pictures for the wards and helped put them up as well. The photographs make the wards look cheerful! A big thank you to this young and enthusiastic group.

This center will provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms to cancer patients:

• It will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of illness
• It will offer the support system to help patients and their families cope psychologically, spiritually and emotionally during the course of the illness.

Ms. Puja Amin of the Indo-American Cancer Association visiting the facility in February 2013The future plan of the center is to impart training in palliative care to interested NGOs and social workers and to deliver domiciliary palliative care at the patient’s home.

– As reported by Dr. Suresh K Verma