CHITWAN, Nov 20: For those cancer patients who have not been able to get treatment in lack of funds, Palliative and Hospice Unit of BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Chitwan district has been able to provide the much needed respite.
Since its inception in 2007, the hospital unit has been embracing cancer patients, offering them free shelter, food and some required medications.
Many people suffering from cancer have survived longer when they got proper care and medication. It´s the fear and stress that kills cancer patients faster than the diseases. Patients can live longer if we share happiness with them and instill hope in them, said the doctors and health workers engaged in the unit.
“Love is such a potion that can breathe life into a dying person. Money does not cure everything,” said Laxmi Baidya, chief of Nepal Nursing Council.
Most of the patients in the unit are the ones who have lost all their property for the treatment but still have high expectations of a cure, informed the doctors.
For 40-year-old Basanti Chowdhary of Dang, the cancer care unit is like a haven. Chowdhary belongs top a poor family and cannot afford the cost of treatment for her uterus cancer. She is now admitted to the cancer care unit of BPMCH. She had arrived at BPMCH for treatment with her family´s hard earned money and donations.
“The money was spent in the six chemotherapies that I underwent. I had lost all hopes, but the doctors referred me to the cancer care unit,” said Chowdhary.
Tika Khadka, 46, from Bardiya is also among the patients taking shelter at the unit. She was admitted to the unit only five days ago and has a cancer near her hip. “She has lost her weight completely. I can feel her pain,” said Yuddha Bahadur Khadka, Tika´s husband.
There are 11 other cancer patients like Kalawati who are seeking complete cure.
Dr Bhaktaman Shrestha, chairman of the hospital´s Patron Committee, said the 15-bed unit will soon be expanded to 200 beds in the coming days. “We want terminally ill patients to die with a smile on their faces,” said Shrestha.
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