LATEST NEWS

U.K., London, April 25th, 2010
Brainstorming for Ganga Prem Hospice
The Ganga Prem Hospice Trust in London held a meeting called ‘Introducing Ganga Prem Hospice’ on 25th April.

The meeting, which was convened by UK GPH board members Swami Saradananda, April Pierrot and Rakesh Luthra, was held at Light Yoga Space in North London and was well attended. Volunteers and well wishers of the Ganga Prem Hospice met together to exchange ideas about fundraising and gathering support for the project. The Hospice was introduced to everyone and an update on the services being provided to cancer patients in Rishikesh was given by the UK directors. Many ideas for fund raising and publicity, including making press contacts, arranging on line donation, approaching companies for funds and organizing events were suggested by the group and volunteers came forward to put some of the ideas into practise.

The brain storming was followed by an inspiring talk by Julie Friedeberger: on “Yoga for People with Cancer”. After Julie herself was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, she was inspired to develop a system of simple yoga practices to help people with cancer and their carers deal with the challenges of the illness. This included a calming breathing practice, and a short breath awareness meditation to encourage the safe observation and acknowledgement of these realities. Julie noted how people with cancer don’t need and often don’t feel comforted by others reassuring them that “everything will be okay” or “don’t worry, you’ll recover”. Often the greatest help can come from deep empathetic listening.

The meeting ended with chocolate cake and samosas which were enjoyed by all!!

India, Rishikesh, April 25th, 2010
April Clinic 2010
A record number of patients at the April 2010 clinic

The April 2010 cancer clinic of Ganga Prem Hospice was the busiest clinic the Hospice has had since the clinic operations began in 2007. 49 patients benefited from the clinic, many of whom were cancer patients. The patients ranged from toddlers to elderly patients and the cancers included oesophagus, piriform fossa, breast, lymph nodes, cheek, colon, bone and leukemia.

Dr Dewan with a cancer patient from a leper colony

The patients, who were mostly under-privileged, came from Bijnor, Roorkee and Kedarnath as well as from Rishikesh, Haridwar and Dehradun . The patients were given consultations, counselling and free medicines during the five hours that the clinic ran-an hour longer than scheduled. A number of new patients came to the clinic as a result of the local newspapers carrying an announcement of the upcoming clinic.

Five patients were terminally-ill and Ganga Prem Hospice is assessing their condition and the costs of the palliative treatment that they will require. Two of these patients (oesophagus and breast cancer) have already been taken by the Hospice volunteer, Anil Gupta, to the Himalayan Institute Hospital for their tests. The hospice home care team is due to start its home care visits to these patients on the 1st May.

The five terminally ill patients suffered from cancers of the oesophagus, breast, bone and lymph nodes. One of them was a four year old child whose bone cancer went untreated. He now has metastasis in the lungs although his physical appearance does not show the fact that he is terminally ill. As nothing can be done for the child in the allopathic system, GPH will be using Ayurveda in his palliative care treatment.

Pooja Dogra with the child and his grandmother

One of our under privileged leukemia patients came to the clinic for a checkup. His condition is improving with the medicines and nutritional supplements that he is being given by the Hospice. The Ganga Prem Hospice oncologist, Dr AK Dewan, gave consultations as well as advice to the patients, allaying their fears and showing them where their previous treatment has helped them. In certain cases, the doctor advised patients to give up tobacco and alcohol consumption. In breast cancer cases, the doctor underlined precautions like not wearing of bangles or taking an intramuscular injection in the affected arm. He also gave advise about doing the recommended exercises.

Anil Gupta registering a new breast cancer patient

Several first-time patients came to have their symptoms checked for cancer. Some were found with no malignancy while some were detected with cancer and were advised followup treatment. The Hospice team dealt with the situation professionally but at the same time, felt sympathy for patients who needed immediate investigation and treatment.

The clinic had the services of the gynaecologist and Ayurvedacharya, as well as a Baidyanath Ayurved doctor who gave consultations to a few patients. The clinic was attended by our volunteers Anil Gupta, Steven Lopresti, Kamala Bhasin, Geeta Kukreti, Shanta Rana, Shashi Rana, and Seema Sareen as well as our coordinator Pooja Dogra and trustees, Mr Suresh Kathpalia and Mr Raghuvir Ghai.

Ganga Prem Hospice would like to thank PepsiCo which donated pure fruit juices and bottled mineral water for the clinic patients. The fruit juices, bottled water, as well as health tonics like iron-folic acid syrups were given out to the needy and home care patients. Arbro and Rhydburg pharmacuticals are thanked for their donations of medicines.

Our next monthly Charitable Cancer Clinic
May 30th, 2010, 9.00 am-1.00pm
at Sardarni Nanki Devi and Punjab Sindh Kshetra Clinic,
Haridwar Rd, Rishikesh. (opp. Choti Subzi Mandi)

India, Delhi, March 30th, 2010
Ganga Prem Hospice signs agreement with IACA
Ganga Prem Hospice gets support for the expansion of its Home Care Programme from the Indo-American Cancer Association.

For cancer patients, professional home care can go a long way towards making them feel more comfortable and giving respite to their families. All over the world, home care has become an established form of caring for terminally ill patients.

Ganga Prem Hospice is planning to expand its home care programme by including a full time nurse in its team. The nurse will visit patients' homes in Rishikesh, Haridwar and Dehradun and give them care like changing dressings, dealing with bed sores and arranging pain management etc.

The expansion of our Home care programme will be assisted by the financial support of the Indo-American Cancer Association, a North America-based not-for-profit charity which has pain and palliative care issues in India as one of its core focus areas. The IACA is constituted of oncologists of Indian origin and the organisation partners institutions in India which are already involved in addressing quality of life issues related to cancer. The mandate of the IACA-supported programme is to develop and improve palliative care in Rishikesh. The programme will include the training and hiring of a full time nurse for home care, the running of Ganga Prem Hospice cancer clinic on a daily basis, and dissemination of information about cancer prevention and palliative care, in the Rishikesh area.

IACA will support Ganga Prem Hospice by paying the salary of the full time nurse. Under the programme, efforts will also be made to make the strictly-regulated morphine available to patients for pain management. The IACA support is extendable to a period of three years.

Ganga Prem Hospice is happy to have this support as the assurance of financial help for the home care programme will mean that the Hospice team can reach out to many more patients. We are already actively looking for a qualified nurse who will be trained in palliative care before she starts to conduct home visits. The ground work for looking for a suitable nurse is being done by our volunteer in Rishikesh, Anil Gupta.

India, Rishikesh, March 28th, 2010
March Clinic 2010
The March 2010 clinic of Ganga Prem Hospice saw 28 patients in all, 14 of them being cancer patients.

Even among the cancer patients, one could see a predominance of breast, throat and tongue cancers. There was one new cancer patient whom the Ganga Prem Hospice Medical Director, Dr AK Dewan, diagnosed as being terminally ill with oesophagus cancer.

This under-privileged patient works as a book-binder and was not fully aware of the extent of his disease. He came to the clinic complaining of symptoms like change in voice and difficulty in swallowing. Dr Dewan gently explained to him that he had a lesion in his food pipe and as time progresses, he may experience more distress symptoms.

Sarojini explains to the patient (right) and his neighbour

He was counselled by the Hospice palliative care coordinator, Sarojini Murthy, who will be supporting the patient as he goes through palliative radiotherapy at the Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust in Jolly Grant. There were two more patients with oesophagus cancer, a male and a female.

Showing the problem to Dr Dewan

Some patients were advised palliative treatment while the others were advised surgery as there was still a chance of their disease being treated. Most of the cancer patients had received Ganga Prem Hospice services before while three of those who came to the clinic for the first time were diagnosed as having cancer .

Currently, Ganga Prem Hospice is caring for two terminally ill patients, both of them being under-privileged. Both of them do not fully understand the gravity of the situation but the good news is that one of them, with leukemia, is responding well to the treatment prescribed to him. The medical expenditure for both patients is being sponsored by the Hospice.

Apart from Dr Dewan, our visiting gyanecologist, Dr Rajesh Saxena and Ayurvedacharya, Dr JP Rathi also attended to patients. Dr Saxena’s check-up was useful for female patients who came with gynaecological complaints. The Ayurvedacharya prescribed medicines to patients whose condition could be improved with Ayurvedic preparations.

Dr Saxena examining a patient

The March clinic was attended by several Ganga Prem Hospice volunteers, including one who had come for the first time. Our long time volunteer, Kamala Bhasin was active as always in guiding patients and referring them to our palliative care counsellor and the doctors. Anil Gupta and Steven Lopresti, our administrative support in Rishikesh, very ably attended to guests and co-ordinated with press reporters, who were there to cover the cancer clinic. Pooja Dogra, the GPH coordinator from Delhi, conversed with everyone to ensure effective communication between the Delhi and Rishikesh teams. The clinic also received three guests, Corrine Burgaliere, Kathleen Prew and Camilla Sanz from France and the US respectively. All have experience in alternate therapies and offered their services to Ganga Prem Hospice.

The Ganga Prem Hospice clinics see cancer patients and their families who need not just medical attention but also counselling to overcome their fears as well as the information gap. Dr Dewan and Sarojini Murthy explain to the patients and their families the medical situation and advise them on how best they can get treatment with least financial burden.

Medicines for free distribution at the the clinic were donated by Abro Pharnmacy of Delhi and Rhydburg Pharmacy of Dehradun.

Our next monthly Charitable Cancer Clinic
April 25th, 2010, 9.00 am-1.00pm
at Sardarni Nanki Devi and Punjab Sindh Kshetra Clinic,
Haridwar Rd, Rishikesh. (opp. Choti Subzi Mandi)

U.S.A, Atlanta,Georgia, March 27th, 2010
'Chantalanta' Music Festival raises Funds for GPH
A fundraiser in Atlanta, USA raised funds for Ganga Prem Hospice

Ganga Prem Hospice had support from Atlanta, USA, as a music festival, Chantlanta, was held on March 27, 2010, to support Ganga Prem Hospice and one other charity. The organisers of the kirtan and music festival,who are great fans of India's devotional music, said they were happy to return something to the country that had given them so much.

The almost 12-hour long music festival saw kirtan by music bands like Bhakti Messenger, Ganesh Giri Jaya, Maadas, Rahasya and Samadhi, crystal bowls, drumming, yoga, and kids' activities. The entry to the event was free and open to all. The day was a huge success approximately $ 1,500 was raised for Ganga Prem Hospice.

A stall was set up for Ganga Prem Hospice where photos of the clinic as well as a Power Point Presentation was shown. Meredith Ingram also gave a talk about The Ganga Prem Hospice clinic which she had visited in December.

Ganga Prem Hospice owes its gratitude to the concert organizers, donors, musicians and to our volunteer Meredith Ingram, who managed a stall at the concert. Asincere thanks also to Ashley Quinn of Philadelphia who was instrumental in reaching our literature to Atlanta.

India, Ambala, March 21st, 2010
Cancer Screening at Ambabla
A cancer camp in Ambala screens 160 patients for possibility of cancer

Dr AK Dewan, representing the Shradha Cancer Care Trust, took part in a cancer screening camp at Amabala, Punjab on Sunday 21st March. The camp, organised by the Rishi Public Welfare Trust, screened 160 patients. As well as its main project, the Ganga Prem Hospice, Shradha Cancer Care Trust is increasing its activities in the field of spreading awareness about cancer prevention, detection and possible treatment. Dr Dewan and his team hope to be participating in more screeing camps in the near future.

India, Delhi, March 20th, 2010
Dr Dewan receives Award
Ganga Prem Hospice Medical Director, Dr Dewan, was awarded the Vishnu Kamal Foundation Award for the year 2009 in a ceremony held in Delhi on March 20, 2010.

The award was given for Dr Dewan’s services to the cause of cancer awareness and cancer control in his work as a surgical oncologist. “Dr Dewan was a worthy awardee as he has selflessly attended to all cancer patients who have ever approached him, without giving any importance to their financial status”, said Dr Vijay Sharma, the Managing Trustee of the Delhi-based Vishnu Kamal Foundation.

Dr Dewan receiving the award in Delhi on 20th March

The Foundation was formed in 2006 to generate awareness about cancer and cancer prevention, organizing talks and visual publicity material with Resident Welfare Associations, clubs, educational institutions, and the under-privileged sections of the society.

The event had Mrs Harmala Gupta of CanSupport, Delhi, as the Chief Guest and around 200 participants attended the event.

India, Haridwar, March 10th, 2010
Ganga Prem Hospice Stall at Kumbh Mela
Ganga Prem Hospice has put up a stall at the Kumbh Mela Exhibition 2010. The stall exhibits cancer awareness banners and brochures as well as the Hospice publications.

Steven at the Ganga Prem Hospice stall at Kumbh Mela

It is still early days for the exhibition and the visitors are expected to increase as the Kumbh Mela progresses. Late March and April will be the busiest times for the Haridwar Kumbh. The objective of the stall is to bring awareness to the local population in Haridwar as well as Kumbh’s many visitors from all over India, about cancer prevention and treatment and the Ganga Prem Hospice services in Rshikesh

The stall is being manned by our volunteer, Steven Lopresti of Canada, who travels from Rishikesh to Haridwar every day. Steven has been offered assistance by Dr Manish Dutt, a Haridwar based doctor and a Ganga Prem Hospice supporter, who has provided a space to store the stall’ s material at night and also a volunteer to assist Steven during the middle hours of the day. Volunteers are still needed for the evening shift from 5.00pm-8.00pm

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 programme—cancer prevention—as 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.

Dr Dewan speaking at the event in Karol Bagh

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 Hospice’s 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
March 28th, 2010, 9.00 am-1.00pm
at Sardarni Nanki Devi and Punjab Sindh Kshetra Clinic,
Haridwar Rd, Rishikesh. (opp. Choti Subzi Mandi)