A 82-bedded state-of-the-art, the first Palliative Care facility in the Telugu States observed World Hospice & Palliative Care Day at its premises in Khajaguda in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Smt. Rani Kumudini, Special Chief Secretary, Govt of Telangana was the chief guest and Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IT, Govt of Telangana, was the guest of honour.
To mark the occasion, it inaugurated a ten bedded Paediatric Palliative Care Ward for children below ten years.
Daggubati Rana inaugurated it. Dr Ramesh Kancharla, Chairman & MD, Rainbow Hospitals also graced the inaugural.
Speaking on the occasion the film star Daggubati Rana said that it was his good fortune to visit Sparsh Hospice which is considered by many as a temple. My mother made one promise that I would accompany her to a temple at least once a year. A couple of days back my mom told me that I must visit a temple. And that temple was this, the Sparsh Hospice. I am blessed to have got an opportunity to visit the facility today. I am sure this massive edifice wouldn't have come up without working hard for it. Kudos to everyone associated with it for the great human service, Rana said. Further, he assured them his fullest cooperation for any of its activities and in whichever way they deem fit that his services be utilised. I am more willing to be with you in every possible way, he said.
The Chief Guest Rani Kumudini, Special Chief Secretary said that she had some idea of palliative care before visiting the place . Normally we can see facilities of this nature only in the west. But, the facilities in Sparsh Hospice are on par with the best in the west. It is a need-of-the-hour one. It is also named very appropriately as 'Sparsh'(mother's touch). If there is one cancer patient in the family, the entire family suffers. The trauma the patient and their families undergo are unimaginable. Sparsh Hospice gives psychologically a great relief to the patient and family members. It is not just children who have to look after their parents. And an institution like this can play a role just as a family would do. A service-minded organisation with human touch like Sparsh Hospice is an extended family, she said.
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary said a free facility like Sparsh Hospice boosts the morale of cancer victims. With suffering from the disease, the patients are already low on morale. It takes care of pain management and that too like a family member and free of cost. The facilities here are on par with the best of the corporate hospitals. It is also heartwarming to know that they served 5500 patients in the last 11 years. He offered his full cooperation in whichever manner the hospice would require.
Dr. Ramesh Kancharla, one of the earliest and big donors of Sparsh Hospice said children do need special care. Children cope with disease much better than adults. Sparsh Hospice gives dignity to the people in their departure. Preparing anybody for the eventuality is a great service. We continue to support the way we have been supporting till such time that Rainbow Children Hospital continues to make profit.
Welcoming the gathering President of the Rotary Club of Banjara Hills Mr Prabhakar Dhulipudi said Sparsh Hospice is an initiative of the Rotary Club of Banjara Hills Charitable Trust. Palliative Care is the care given to terminally ill patients. Palliative care at Sparsh involves physical, emotional and spiritual care, with a team of trained doctors, nursing staff, physiotherapists, counsellors and spiritual guides. It also offers home care services. All these services are offered free. It served more than 5500 patients.
The Paediatric Palliative Care Ward is opened with the expertise and support of Rainbow Hospitals. It is a ten bedded ward, which accepts children who are suffering from the end stage of cancer. It accepts children below ten years. He also shared that they were planning to introduce a mobile cancer screening facility with a focus on women and their screening for cervical cancer, breast cancer and others. To begin with, they would like to introduce one mobile screening bus, after studying the pitfalls, we will go for more such buses, he said. The bus will be deployed in rural areas.
Speaking further he added that the Rotary Club of Banjara Hills is contemplating setting up a full-fledged, world-class cancer hospital. For which it had sought 3 to 4-acre land within the city from the government of Telangana. The exact details will be finalised soon after they get land allocation from the state government. The club has written to the State government last month and hopes to get the same soon.
Ramakrishna, husband of a patient Sharada and Lakshmi mother of a child cancer patient Yuvraj spoke and gave their feedback on how concerned the staff at Sparsh Hospice was. They wholeheartedly thanked them for their yeoman service.
Mrs Tanvi, a member of the Rotary Club of Banjara Hills, gave more details about Paediatric Palliative Care. If a child gets Cancer, it changes the life of the family forever. Every year 14 lakh fresh cancer cases are registered in India. Out of which 75000 are kids. 75% of them have a chance of survival if they are picked up and treated in the early stage of cancer. There is an end to cure, but there is no end to care, she said. and that is what we are committed to offering to all our inmates, she said.
About 300 guests participated in the program
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