Meeting people where they are, when they need it – Taking Palliative Care to the margins.
In May 2024, Dr. Shilpa Khanna from Sangwari and Syed Askari, Regional Facilitator from Pallium India, travelled to Chhattisgarh to assess the landscape of palliative care access in the state and explore ways of working together.
30% of Chhattisgarh’s approximately 3 crores population live in tribal areas. Sangwari is an NGO that caters to the healthcare needs of the tribal community in the district of Sarguja through various clinics. Dr. Shilpa and her team also deliver palliative care services to as many patients as possible with the limited resources available in the area, and has tied up with the Medical College and an Urban Primary Health Centre in Ambikapur for this purpose.
Dr. Shilpa and Syed met the Mission Director of National Health Mission (NHM) Chhattisgarh, Dr. Jagdish Kumar Sonkar, State Consultant National Program for Palliative care (NPPC), Dr.Ranveer Singh Baghel, and Nodal Officer National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), Dr.Pradeep Tondon, and discussed the possibilities of Pallium India and Sangwari working with the government healthcare facilities to enhance palliative care services in Chhattisgarh. As a result of this discussion, proposals have been submitted to NHM Chhattisgarh for capacity building and implementation of palliative care services.
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