Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday launched District Palliative Care Programme which will be available in District Level Hospitals, including Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela Government Hospital in Rourkela as part of commitment to realise Sustha Odisha Sukhi Odisha (Health Odisha Happy Odisha).
The Chief Minister also unveiled the logo of Palliative Care for branding of the facilities at the Lok Seva Bhavan here at a function through videoconferencing with district Collectors and Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs).
All the district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) will be developed with appropriate infrastructure for the programme.
Under the programme, several in-patient and out-patient services will be provided in the programme. The in-patient services include free specialist consultation, training to the care giver, free drugs and consumables, free physiotherapy, counselling, spiritual healing, emergency care services, nutrition support and patient follow-up.
Six bedded Palliative Care units will be set up in each DHH to provide facility based services in each district. At least 10 districts have already been provided with Rs 10.25 lakh each for development of infrastructure while 39 Medical Officers and 42 Staff Nurses have been trained for the same.
In another humane initiative, it has also been decided to start home-based Palliative Care in Nabarangpur district in two months which will be extended to all districts.
The services will also be available for terminally ill patients suffering from Chronic Kidney Diseases, Stroke, Cardio Vascular Diseases and HIV/AIDS.
Among others, Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das, department Secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda and Advisor to Odisha Government on Cancer Care Dr Dinesh Pendarkar were present.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Chief Minister in May 2017 had launched District cancer Care programme. Under this initiative, till date more than 30,000 cancer patients have received consultation and 14,000 patients have received chemotherapy cycles in district day care cancer chemotherapy centres. The State Government is providing 86 types of anti-cancer drugs free of cost and all investigations are being provided free to all cancer patients under Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana.
