A poster of the Guwahati Pain and Palliative Care Society

Nov. 10: A city-based organisation will hold awareness camps in schools and colleges on alleviation of the trauma of terminally-ill cancer patients.

Illustrative posters on “Learning to live with cancer” would be distributed by Guwahati Pain and Palliative Care Society (GPPCS) among the students, D.C. Goswami, secretary of the society, said.

“Living with cancer can be an extremely traumatic experience, particularly when the disease turns incurable. There is psychological death even before the physical death of the patient,” he said.

“The concept of palliative care is a nascent one for a developing country like ours, where most of the resources are spent on meeting basic healthcare,” he said.

More than 26,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Assam, of whom 80 per cent are in the advanced stage, requiring only palliative care.

Such care was practically non-existent in the Northeast in spite of the region cancer centres for treatment. Patients with advanced cancer were left to die without any care.

“Besides social taboo and stigma associated with cancer, misconception about analgesic use and its unavailability add to the suffering,” Goswami added.

“We are trying to garner community support and create a network of volunteers from even among the small children. We are trying to encourage community participation for training as volunteers irrespective of their level of education,” he said.

The society will impart training on basics of cancer, physical symptom management, nursing issues like sterilisation, general care, mouth care, back-care, bowel and bladder care, mobility, medicines and compliance.

The society has stressed propagation of the knowledge of palliative care to the grassroots level. “We want to offer the best possible support for new initiatives in the form of satellite centres or link centres throughout Assam,” he said. A satellite clinic at Rangiya and a link-centre at Digboi in Upper Assam have started functioning.

Recently, the society organised a public oration by Val Hunkin of the Oxford International Collaborating Centre for Palliative Care, England, on “living with cancer” in the city. Hunkin is one of the pioneers of the global movement for palliative care.

The society, set up in 1999, is an international partner of the Oxford Centre. The core group consists of an anaesthetist, two trained palliative care doctors and two health assistants supported by a few volunteers. The society deputes its personnel to attend the pain clinic at B. Borooah Cancer Institute.It has helped 4,950 cancer patients to overcome their pain. “We will also try to include patients suffering from other diseases like AIDS and rheumatism in the days to come,” Goswami said.

Health minister Bhumidhar Barman inaugurated the society’s home-care service in July 2001. “We have been conducting home visits despite constraints of transportation and volunteers,” Goswami added.