Page 28 - Annual Report
P. 28

3 GOOD HEALTH
                                                                                                                                     AND WELL-BEING
                                                                                                                                    PROJECT ALIGNS
                                                                                                                                    WITH SDG
                  Transformative

                  Journeys











                                                                                                        On further examination, it was found that she had
                                                                                                        massive pleural effusion (collection of fluid in the
                                                                                                        outer cover of the lungs) which caused her the
                                                                                                        symptoms. Her lung fluid was removed in three
                                                                                                        sessions at the Dibrugarh Daycare Centre.  Her tissue
                                                                                                        block was sent to the Centre for Oncopathology
                                                                                                        (CoP) in Mumbai for advanced investigations, funded
                                                                                                        by the Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF,
                                                                                                        partner organisation of Tata Trusts).
                                                                                                        Thereafter, she underwent blood tests and
                                                                                                        chemotherapy cycles, all free of cost, as the Centre
                                                                                                        had enrolled her under the Atal Amrit Abhiyan
                                                                                                        Scheme of the state government.
                                                                                                        For every chemo cycle, the Dibrugarh Daycare
                                                                                                        Centre even arranged for a few days’ stay at the
                   Daycare Cancer Centre at Dibrugarh Assam                                             ACCF guest house (meant for outstation patients) for
                                                                                                        Palomi to gather some strength and return home.
                                                             Shortening the                             Today, Palomi’s cough has reduced to a great extent,
                                                                                                        she sleeps soundly and her quality of life has
                                                             distance to a                              improved. “At one point, we had thought of giving up

                                                             longer life                                the treatment as we did not have the logistics or
                                                                                                        finances to carry on,” she says.
                                                                                                        This story just goes to show that having a treatment
                                                             50-year-old Palomi Deb (name changed) of Tinsukia,
                                                             Assam, was diagnosed with lung cancer at the   centre closer to home can change the lives of
                                                             B. Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati. She   millions of cancer patients across India.
                                                             and her family had exhausted all their financial
                                                             resources on the month-long evaluation process in
                                                             Guwahati. With nothing left, they were close to
                                                             giving up hope and her treatment.
                                                             That’s when Palomi came to know about the
                                                             Dibrugarh Daycare Centre near her hometown and
                                                             decided to seek treatment there.
                                                             She arrived at the Centre with a persistent cough,
                                                             struggling to walk without support, unable to sleep
                                                             or lie down because of the cough.





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