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INDIA, Rishikesh, January 29th, 2012
January clinic 2012
The first Rishikesh clinic of 2012 on the 29th of January saw a rather subdued turnout of patients owing to the state level elections being scheduled for the very next day, yet 16 patients out of the 60 at the clinic managed to come from far flung areas like Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Dhampur, and the neighbouring towns of Haridwar and Dehradun.

The January Rishikesh clinic saw five doctors and one ayurvedacharya serve the patients. Surgical oncologists Dr Ashish Goel and Dr Vivek Gupta examined cancer patients and Dr Pallavi Purwar gave consultations mostly to non-cancer patients.

While there were seriously-ill and economically destitute cancer patients like Asadi Devi of Chamoli at the clinic, there were also some fresh diagnoses with early-stage cancer, and with surgical oncologist Dr Vivek Gupta mooting the idea of doing free of charge biopsies and mastectomies for under-privileged patients, there was a chance to do more for the patients, particularly those whose cancers were still treatable.

Volunteer nurse Chandan and aromatherapist Tapasia Keet were of immense help at the clinic which had volunteers Kamla Bhasin, Panshula, Panchanan, Jitendra Bisht, Bhagwati Kala, and Munnalal run the clinic operations along with the Ganga Prem Hospice team. Discounted diagnostic facilities were offered to patients as a result of Ganga Prem Hospice tie-ups with different diagnostic centres to donate or discount their facilities for cancer patients.

Pharmacist Totaram Arya gave out the medicines and counselor Sarojini Murthy looked into cancer patients' cases specifically to see how they could be supported further. One patient, whose husband is disabled, had lost her job due to weakness after her radiotherapy and the little family has been plunged into abject poverty. Ganga Prem Hospice has arranged for food supplies to be donated and taken to their house in Dehradun.

INDIA, Dehradun, January 28th, 2012
Second GPH free cancer clinic in Dehradun
The SEWA-THDC-supported Ganga Prem Hospice cancer clinic in Dehradun on the 28th of January 2012 saw 69 patients, despite it being cold weather for them to venture out and the impending state level elections being a distraction in the pre-clinic information dissemination work.

Surgical oncologist Dr Vivek Gupta of the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi was kept busy with cancer patients seeing him for their condition. Dr Vivek saw four cancer patients whose condition was diagnosed for the first time at the Ganga Prem Hospice cancer clinic in Dehradun by the oncologist. Supporting him was Dr Pallavi Purwar, general surgeon, who saw general ailment patients as well as gynaecological patients. The Ganga Prem Hospice medical officer Dr Rajiv Saxena was also there to give consultations.

Oral cancers dominated the clinic with 39% of all cancers being in areas like the tongue, buccal mucosa, oesophagus and hypopharynx. Breast cancer was the second most common cancer. The five new terminally ill patients were from poor economic background and will be given home care by the Ganga Prem Hospice medical home care team.

It was poignant to see how some patients' cancer had gone completely undiagnosed, including one seventy-four year old man with suspected male breast cancer and a large, open tumour. He had been getting medical care but it was not cancer-specific and therefore had not stabilized his disease. The condition is now so advanced that his wound requires dressing twice a day.

The Dehradun clinic was a long one but went on at a steady pace. Each patient was seen according to first come first seen criterion, with general surgeon Dr Pallavi referring complicated cancer cases to the surgical oncologist.

The hosts for the venue were the City Hospital, right in the heart of Dehradun. The hospital was a very clean and well kept facility. The City Hospital doctors were kind enough to allow Ganga Prem Hospice to use their consultation rooms for the cancer clinic free of cost.