Palliative care home to open for cancer patients

K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology, lays the foundation stone for a 50-bedded Palliative Care Center. “I will stand by you,” he says in support of Cancer related issues

Every year Hyderabad witnesses nearly 12,000 cancer patients that are at a terminal stage of the disease. Of this, only 0. 5 per cent of the population receives the benefit from palliative care and relief. K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology, laid the foundation stone for a 50-bedded Palliative Care Center to be set up by Sparsh Hospice for free palliative care for terminally ill cancer patients.

The center will be constructed on the one-acre land (allocated by the Government of Telangana on 33 years lease) at Khajaguda on Nanakramguda Road in Sherlingampally Mandal. Founded by the members of Rotary Club of Banjara Hills, Sparsh Hospice is the state’s first hospice and palliative care center. It also provides home care services. The center has so far extended free service to more than 800 patients and has offered 350 home visits.

Palliative care at Sparsh involves physical, emotional and spiritual care, with a team of trained doctors, nursing staff, physiotherapists, counselors and spiritual guides. During the discussion, K.T. Rama Rao also promised that the Government will work towards easing out stringent rules, if any existing in the state, on usage of Narcotic Drugs /Patches in pain management in Cancer treatment. “I will stand by you on this subject,” he asserted.

President of Rotary Club of Banjara Hills, Dr Pranathi Reddy, informed that the center will be a green facility. According to the reports, this center will be constructed with a project outlay of Rs 7 crore, mostly raised through donations.