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LATEST
NEWS
India,
Delhi, February 26th, 2010
Indian Government
Helps Cancer Patients
Indian Railways budget: Cancer patients
to get 100% concession in train travel.
Amid the cacophony
that surrounded the tabling of the Indian
Railways budget in the Parliament in February
2010, one of the welfare schemes announced
by the Indian Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee
was that cancer patients going for treatment
or periodic check-ups will now be eligible
for 100% concession in third AC and sleeper
class compared to 75% earlier. However,
such concession in second AC or first AC
will remain unchanged at 50%.
In India, where there are only around 20
specialised cancer centres, patients and
their families who live in small towns and
villages have to to travel several hundred
kilometers to reach a cancer centre. With
prohibitive travel costs, patients often
give routine checkups and follow up treatment
a miss, thus increasing mortality or recurrence
of the disease.
Ganga Prem Hospice contacted the Right to
Information Cell of the Indian Railways
in Delhi, and was told that the new rules
will become applicable from 1st April, 2010,
and it will become clear then, what papers
or certificates the patients have to present
to avail of the concession in train travel.
India,
Delhi, February 7th, 2010
World Cancer
Day: A talk in Central Delhi
On the occasion
of the World Cancer Day, Ganga Prem Hospice
organised a talk on cancer prevention in
Delhi. The talk, with a small and enthusiastic
audience of around 60 people, was organised
by the Hospice Delhi volunteers at Karol
Bagh, Central Delhi.
Dr AK Dewan, the Ganga
Prem Hospice surgical oncologist, spoke
to a varied audience of women, businessmen,
Homeopathy practitioners and teachers in
a conversationalist manner, inviting the
audience to ask him questions every now
and then.
Dr Dewan introduced
the theme of the programmecancer preventionas
an art of living. This was because
his talk was preceded by a talk by two Art
of Living practitioners. This immediately
struck a note with the audience and what
followed was information on various kinds
of cancer, like cervix, breast and prostate.
| .Dr
Dewan emphasised lifestyle factors as
responsible for exacerbation and prevention
of a disease like cancer. Why
we need to propagate the World Cancer
Day is evident from the fact that every
year 7.6 million people die of cancer,
said Dr Dewan. Since the talk was for
Delhi residents, Dr Dewan gave the audience
information on what kind of cancers
were most prevalent in the city and
what were their possible reasons. |
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| Dr Dewan
speaking at the event in Karol
Bagh |
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The audience listened
keenly and freely asked questions on Hormone
Replacement Therapy (HRT), prostate cancer
signs and vaccines for cervix cancer. When
Dr Dewan asked the audience if anyone of
them consumed tobacco, two people admitted
that they had chewed tobacco and smoked.
The cancer surgeon then gently explained
to them what ingredients in tobacco were
carcinogenic.
The event was an interesting
interface between a surgical oncologist
and the audience. Ganga Prem Hospice plans
to organise more such talks throughout the
year. The team was happy to see that the
audience donated to Ganga Prem Hospice through
the Hospices donation box which had
been placed on the information table at
the event.
The Municipal Councillor
of the Karol Bagh area, Mr Moolchand Chawla,
was also there to listen to Dr Dewan and
towards the end of the programme, said,
I wish I had joined in to listen to
the talk right at the beginning.
Ganga Prem Hospice
thanks its team of volunteers in Delhi:
Meena Dawar, Rajrani, Bharti Sharma, Shailendra
Arora, Roma Malhotra and Sonia, who made
the event possible. The venue for the programme
and the refreshments were generously donated
by Meena Dawar, who also managed the entire
programme.
Our
next monthly Charitable Cancer Clinic
February 28th, 2010, 9.00 am-1.00pm
at Sardarni Nanki Devi and Punjab Sindh
Kshetra Clinic,
Haridwar Rd, Rishikesh. (opp. Choti Subzi
Mandi)
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