Dr Bishnu Dutta Paudel

Pallium India came across Dr Bishnu Dutta Paudel first during the International Pain Policy Fellowship program at Madison-Wisconsin.

Dr Bishnu is an oncologist with keen interest in palliative care from Kathmandu. We have been greatly appreciative of the way in which Dr Bishnu tackled the opioid availability issue in Nepal and worked with the Government to establish a system for uninterrupted availability of morphine in Nepal.

We are glad to report that Dr Bishnu became the first winner of the Palliative Care Award for South Asian Countries, newly established by Cancer Aid Society (CAidS).  The award is the brain child of CAidS’ dynamic chief functionary, Mr Piyush Gupta, and carries a purse of Rs. 100,000.

Dr Bishnu Dutta Paudel happened to be attending the Leadership Development Initiative at San Diego on the day the award was given out at the Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care at Kolkata.  His wife received the award on his behalf.

Congratulations, Bishnu!

Here’s an interview with Dr. Bishnu Dutta Paudel of Nepal, Dr. Eva Rossina Duarte of Guatemala, and Ms. Karen Ryan of Madison, WI, USA discussing the International Pain Policy Fellowship and the work that they are doing in their respective countries. From NBC (WMTV) 15 TV news on June 17, 2008.

• a motivated professional
• ideally with experience in legal and policy analysis related to health or drug control law

to help achieve:

• its mission to improve global availability of, and patient access to, essential controlled medications for pain relief and opioid substitution therapy.

Application deadline: October 4th, 2010

Full details and application information here….

The United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) met last week in Vienna.

CND Delegates

Thanks to advocacy by several agencies, most noticeably Human Rights Watch, the commission has recognised that its role is not only to control narcotic drugs but also to ensure its availability for medical purposes.

Human Rights Watch conducted a side-event promoting the global need for opioids for pain relief which was attended by several organizations including PPSG and the Access to Control program of WHO and about 70 CND delegates from all over the world. HRW statements: Day 3: statement to the plenary & Day 4: supply reduction plenary

Antonio Maria Costa

At the CND meeting, Mr Costa from UNODC highlighted [PDF] the need for improvement in opioid availability for pain relief.

The week long meeting passed a resolution “Promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse.” [PDF]

We are sure it will be a powerful tool in our advocacy for pain relief.