Published on: March 31, 2017

A team from the Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences consisting of Nandini Vallath and Sumitha T. S., visited Puducherry on 22 March and 24 March, 2017, to mentor and support the ongoing activities in the region. Dr Dewan Roshan Singh, Associate Professor, Dept of Anaesthesiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute (MGMCRI), Dr Srikanth, Professor of Community Medicine at Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SVMC) and Anu Thelly, the nursing consultant, at MGMCRI are the local champions who organized the events and made this visit a success.

This was a follow up visit for mentoring and monitoring of the palliative care activities initiated there with funding from the Tata trust, after Dr Srikanth completed training at TIPS, Trivandrum. The palliative care service in the institution has taken off since then. The activities are also gradually getting integrated into the clinical settings and the professional community, through a committee representing all specialities within the institution.

The team successfully conducted the ‘follow up workshop on Opioids availability’ at the MGMC on the 23rd of March. All significant stakeholders involved in improving opioid access within Pondicherry participated in this event. They included the health secretary, Officials from Excise, and health department, the senior faculty from local medical college hospitals and the regional palliative care champions. The meeting concluded with specific action points to ensure that the situation of access and availability to pain relief improves for the region in the near future.

In addition, Dr Nandini gave an invited presentation on “Pain Management in Palliative Care” at the SAF guest lecture series at MGMC. Anu Thelly, and Sumitha T. S., Project Executive, Pallium India, interacted and sensitized the nursing students at SVMC on palliative care topics relevant to their future practice.

(In the picture: Pallium India team with the SVMC team)