It is almost impossible to imagine, but there are approximately 2 million people in India suffering from pain at any one time, the majority due to cancer and HIV and Aids. Expensive treatments, freely available in the West, are often not an option for a patient from a poor family in India. This is why work undertaken by the Pain and Palliative Society in Calicut, Kerala is so crucial. This out-patient clinic provides pain-relief and support to patients through a team of compassionate and dedicated doctors, nurses and trained volunteers. The Savitri Waney Charitable Trust has provided funding for equipping a new in-patient facility and training centre for the society which as well as offering treatment to patients will train doctors from all over Asia in this relatively new field of medicine.

Doctors on their way to attend a patient at his home

Palliative care is a combination of pain and symptom relief, and social and emotional support. It means being interested in the person as well as in his diagnosis, and skillfully using medications so that patients’ can have a new lease of life, free from pain.  The poor in India, suffering from terminal illnesses, have very few places to turn to for relief. There is no National Health Service so they are usually dependent on Government Hospitals where appropriate care is neither known about nor offered. Many patients cannot afford to go anywhere.

The Pain and Palliative Society (PPCS) of Calicut, Kerala was set up in 1993 in response to this desperate situation. Today, their clinic on average, sees 65 patients daily, of which an average of 7 are new patients. Of these, 80% have advanced cancer, 17% have painful non-malignant conditions and 2-3% are HIV positive. Around 2,300 patients benefit each year at PPCS under the compassionate care of a group of dedicated doctors, nurses and volunteers.

Treating a patient at home.

The clinic has had remarkable success in training a large group of doctors and nurses from all over India and also from neighboring countries such as Nepal, Bhutan and Indonesia. In 1997 the skills of this dedicated team were recognized by the World Health Organization and PPCS became a WHO Demonstration Project.

In 2001, The Wilfrid Bruce Davis Trust, a registered UK charity which supports cancer relief in particular, offered to underwrite the costs for the construction of an in-patient facility and training centre for the society as there are no beds available at the clinic despite the terrible pain often suffered by the patients. Further more, the society wished to carry out more training yet were constrained by lack of space, manpower and finance. It is vital that the clinic continues to train doctors and nurses throughout Asia as the aim must be PAIN RELIEF FOR ALL.

Mission for vision

Pain & Palliative care

Sirasu development project

Savitri rural development project

Committed communities development trust

The David Sassoon School