Project Hamrahi

Outreach visit to Bihar, India

Odette Spruijt, Mary Duffy and Shalini AJ visited four major medical institutes in Patna, Bihar earlier this year. The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science is the regional cancer centre for Bihar and had previously hosted a Project Hamrahi visit from Odette and Mary. A number of positive developments were noted, in particular the executive support from the hospital director, Dr NR Biswas, and the establishment of an uninterrupted supply of morphine. A number of doctors have been trained by both Pallium India and the Lien Foundation and there is a plan to establish a combined palliative care and oncology outpatient clinic.

The visit to the central government sponsored All India Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital (AIIMS) in Patna included a meeting with key executive staff, a ward round with bedside teaching, and a hospital grand round presentation delivered by both local clinicians and the visiting team. The hospital director, Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh, kindly extended his support to palliative care with discussions around the establishment of a 20-bed palliative care unit. The hospital has also done a stellar job in being approved as a Recognised Medical Institutions under the 2014 amendment to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. This enables AIIMS Patna to stock, prescribe and dispense essential opioids without the need for any other licenses.

Please see the team’s report in full here: