A hospital off EM Bypass in east Kolkata launched palliative care facilities for cancer patients on Sunday, which include delivery of health-care services at home.
Palliative care means alleviating the pain and suffering of cancer patients. It improves the quality of life, said a doctor.
“Palliative care is more important for patients who have stopped responding to active treatment, and for whom keeping the pain and suffering under control is the only way,” said Subir Ganguly, a senior consultant of radiation oncology at Medica Superspecialty Hospital, which launched the facilities on Sunday.
About 80 per cent of cancer patients have had their disease detected at an advanced stage, said Ganguly. “The possibility of cure is not high and palliative care is the only option that can improve their quality of life,” he said.
Medica will focus on those who are unable or find it difficult to come to the hospital, those who are in pain and those who are no longer responding to active treatment.
Elderly people suffering from cancer, who have already become frail because of old age and whose children are settled outside the city, will benefit as they will not have to come to the hospital for every follow-up.
Alok Roy, chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital, said the hospital would start with patients living within a radius of 15km.
The hospital also has plans to run an OPD clinic for palliative care, Ganguly said.
Palliative care facilities are grossly inadequate in the city.
“Doctors mostly try on their own to provide such care. There is no organised team including psychologists, nurses and volunteers. We are trying to build such a team,” said Ganguly.
Another hospital in Kolkata that has a palliative care department is the Tata Medical Centre in New Town, said an official of the hospital.
