Published on: February 28, 2022

Rontu Sangma, Regional Coordinator – North East, Pallium India, writes:

The population of West Bengal is approx. 1 billion. Over half of all deaths in West Bengal are attributed to NCDs, with 30% deaths due to circulatory system disorders (24.2% and 3.9% deaths were due to cerebrovascular diseases and ischemic heart disease, respectively) followed by 11% due to respiratory disease and 8% due to neoplasms. This high burden demands good quality palliative care.

Access to pain relief and palliative care remains a challenge as the state has to prioritize the available limited resources. Addressing the need for quality cancer care in the state, the Government of West Bengal instituted the palliative care program under the aegis of the National Program for Palliative Care in 2016. However, people lack access to pain relief in the state including opioids like morphine. So, it has become more imperative for the state to sensitize and expand the palliative care outreach.

Palliative Care is a multidisciplinary team approach. With this initiative, Pallium India conducted a session on ‘Orientation Training in Palliative Care’ on 12 February 2022. Pallium India’s Chairman Dr. M R Rajagopal took the participants through the session on the need for Palliative Care and Pain Relief.

We had an overwhelming participation of about 100 people from these 22 institutions:

  • R.G Kar Medical College and Hospital
  • Calcutta Medical College and Hospital
  • Murshidabadh Medical College and Hospital
  • Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital
  • Kolkata Medical College and Hospital
  • Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute
  • ESI, Institute of Pain and Management Hospital
  • Antara Hospital (Mental Health)
  • Purnima Foundation
  • Chakdha Medical College
  • Diamond Harbour Government Medical College and Hospital
  • MR Bangur Hospital
  • Posh Hospital
  • Cankids
  • Apollo Hospital
  • Sodepore Panihati Hospital
  • Oncolink
  • Self Foundation
  • Samaj Unnayan Kendra
  • Diganata Old Age Home
  • Ruma Abedona Hospice
  • Eastern India Palliative Care

Visit Pallium India’s directory to find palliative care centres in West Bengal

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