Coimbatore Cancer Foundation was founded by Padma Bhushan awardee SITRA K.Sreenivasan in the year 1991. He was a cancer survivor who had gone through the journey of cancer diagnosis and treatment. He established the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation in order to provide counselling and emotional support for people diagnosed with cancer and their family members.
Coimbatore Cancer Foundation was founded by Padma Bhushan awardee SITRA K.Sreenivasan in the year 1991. He was a cancer survivor who had gone through the journey of cancer diagnosis and treatment. He established the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation in order to provide counselling and emotional support for people diagnosed with cancer and their family members.
The foundation has done marvelous work within the oncology department of G.Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital. The foundation has Dr.T.Balaji as its Managing Trustee and it holds a number of events in aid of the society. Recently Coimbatore Cancer Foundation brought in Padmashri awardee Dr.M.R.Rajagopal in order to increase awareness and action in connection with palliative care. Dr.M.R.Rajagopal is an amazing doctor who is behind Pallium India, a non - governmental organization with a vision to integrate palliative care into healthcare in India.
This will ensure that every person has access to relief from health related suffering. Pallium India is one among the 12 NGOs in Kerala which have been accredited by the Social Justice Department.
Palliative Care addresses the physical, psychosocial, financial and spiritual needs of patients and their families. It aims to reduce the overall health related suffering of the patient and the family living with life limiting or life threatening conditions.
Improves the quality of life, and death when the time comes, and supports families in bereavement. It becomes essential therefore to provide palliative care through homecare, inpatient and outpatient services. Awareness is the key to the success of this initiative.
Vivanta by Taj was the venue for this programme which included the screening of ' Hippocratic ' and it was followed by a panel discussion on the subject. Dr.T.Balaji welcomed the gathering and his crisp address was really informative.
Dr.B.K.Krishnaraj Vanavarayar added to the occasion with his marvelous address and he showered encomiums on Dr.M.R.Rajagopal by calling him a ' Mahatma '. Dr.M.R.Rajagopal addressed the gathering with great humility.
He introduced the four panelists - Dr. Sathyamurthy ( Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit of GKNM Hospital ), Dr. Alka ( Consultant Geriatrician at GKNM ), Swarnalatha ( Founder & Managing Trustee of Swarga Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of patients with Multiple Sclerosis & Neuro Muscular Disorders ), Shyam Viswanathan ( A son and care giver who has given up his corporate career in order to take care of his parents ) in an appropriate manner.
The movie ' Hippocratic ' was a real eye opener and one could never feel the passage of time while watching it. The movie had ' Gandhi ' and ' Experiments ' as the concept which added to the message regarding palliative care. Dr.Rajagopal's message is pretty obvious through the documentary.
The audience got to see difficult patients, difficult situations, unbearable pain, insecurity, family well being as the priority for the patient, treatment , approach, offering comfort etc., The story of a woman who had three unwell brothers to look after while she was the sole bread winner would make anyone come to tears. In another situation the grateful patient acknowledges Dr.M.R. Rajagopal.
The whole programme was really touching and its important that the message is spread at the earliest in our country. Through the programme one can understand what palliative care is all about. It is the care that can be given to patients from the time of diagnosis of a serious illness, in order to minimize illness related suffering - for the patient as well as the family.
A means to provide realistic hope for life with minimal suffering, the restoration of dignity and when the time comes, for a death free from pain. Through palliative care it is possible to greatly reduce the number of sufferers seeking to end their lives.
It was a great surprise to learn that less than 1% percent of our population have access to palliative care. Due to lack of basic social security the devastation on the family is far greater at the time of illness. While lower income groups suffer , even the affluent go through the same in our country. Lack of training among healthcare professionals is also an issue.
A number of medicines used for palliative care were not available in spite of India being a major producer of opium and recently legislation was passed to make them available.
The documentary showed a number of patients in terrible pain and in some cases it had to do with the other issues connected with their family or children. The aim of this documentary was to create an eco system as in Kerala in Tamilnadu for palliative care.
Kerala seems to stand first in this regard. Rehabilitation centres for paraplegics are also required. Vocational training and rehabilitation of families need to be addressed. The documentary also aims at policy development across India. Pallium India runs a national information centre. the organization conducts research while also aligning itself with other organizations. It supports children from disease ravaged families.
Coimbatore is a centre for medicine and Tamilnadu is known for education and social welfare programmes. Therefore Coimbatore is best suited for activities connected with palliative care. " Dr.M.R.Rajagopal has been travelling with the documentary to raise awareness. Screenings were done in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Tamilnadu was the only state to have this programme in two cities.
About 325 people attended the programme and they included medical professionals, care givers, corporates who are keen to use their csr funds for palliative care, members from NGOs, senior citizens and people with elderly parents. He is from Calicut but now he lives at Thiruvananthapuram. He has been lobbying for changes in rules and regulations. Thanks to his good work, opium availability for morphine got addressed.
The palliative network at Kerala is among the best in Asia and it is largely community based. Several families are driven to penury because of ailments and there are times when other issues need to be looked into also. We need to focus on all this as part of palliative care. Its not only for cancer but also other difficult diseases.
Awareness and empathy will take palliative care forward. Gentlemen like Dr.M.R. Rajagopal have brought palliative care to the forefront in India and its sure to move forward due to the efforts of all the stakeholders, " stated Divya Chandran , one of the trustees of the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation. The foundation and its trustees are a committed lot and they have done much for the people in the last 25 years.
Dr.M.R.Rajagopal was at his best while sharing his experiences. One of the patients felt that pain had reduced once the child's future was guaranteed and he stated that Palliative Care has to be complete for this reason and more.
The treatment offered to the poorest of the poor by Rajagopal and his team is commendable. The inclusive nature of Dr.Rajagopal's approach is obvious. All the patients were equal and the financially under privileged were supported very well by the team.
The kindness displayed by Dr.M.R.Rajagopal and his colleagues happens to be seamless. One's purport is realized if he or she can help people in medical distress. While watching the documentary or while listening to the panelists its obvious that everyone has to fold their sleeves in order to help the ones in distress by offering time, money, man power or voluntary service. The initiative of Dr. M.R.Rajagopal looks into the treatment of patients on one side while addressing the issues of the family of the patient simultaneously. With a burgeoning population, India needs many warriors like Dr.M.R.Rajagopal and he is truly a Mahatma of our times for he is fulfilling the needs of the nation as prescribed by Mahatama Gandhi.
The achievements of Dr.M.R.Rajagopal are many and a few have been listed here.
* Spearheaded the efforts to amend the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Act to improve access to pain relieving drugs.
* Developed the National Program for Palliative Care for India's five year plan
* Developed the National Standards Tool to ensure quality Palliative Care.
* Contributed to the development of the MD Course curriculum in Palliative Medicine under the Medical Council of India
* Developed other essential educational tools with global experts.
Pioneering Coimbatore is sure to look into palliative care in a big way during the times to come. Its earnestly hoped that the inputs and work of the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation and Pallium India Trust will serve the society by being sentinels of this cause.