Chinna Jeeyar Swami urged citizens to donate organs

Hyderabad, February 11, 2016: Seminar “Role of Volunteers and Donors in helping social causes, especially the “Terminally Care” given at Sparsh Hospice, held here in city today at Sparsh Hospice premises at Road No 12, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

His Holiness Chinna Jeeyar Swami and Palliative Care Specialist from US Dr Kelle Brogan graced the occasion and addressed the Seminar graced by over 200 participants.

Chinna Jeeyar Swamy went through the facility and interacted with the patients and their attendance. He was impressed the way the care was provided by Sparsh Hospice.

Sparsh has invited a spiritual and humanitarian leader, His Holiness Chinna Jeeyar Swami, to honour their indomitable spirit and courage to grace the facility and also felicitated their major donors.

Chinna Jeeyar Swamy felicitated companies who donated in excess of Rupees Ten lakhs to Sparsh Hospice. ACT Fibernet, Value Labs, Pennar Cement, Bharathi Cement, NATCO Pharma, Hetero Drugs, Vaya Foundation, SLN Teminus, Pragathi Printers, Kavy Consultants and Manjeera Group.

Chairman of My Home Construction group and an ardent follow of Chinna Jeeyar Swami Dr. J. Rameshwar Rao, announced a donation of Rupees Ten Lakh on behalf of Jeeyar Trust for which he is also a Chairman. Further he assured help in procuring land for Sparsh Hopsice, who has been scouting for a land to construct its own 40 bedded hospital.

Mr. Subrahmanyam donated Rs 2 lakh, on behalf of his sister T. Chenna Lakshmi, a Cancer patient who died recently. This donation was the insurance amount of my sister. The donation was made on behalf of my sister’s husband Ramesh, said Subrahmanyam.

Dr. Kelle Brogan , the Visiting Palliative Care Specialist from University of Nevada, USA also donated 1000 American Dollars to Sparsh Hospice.

Speaking on the occasion, His Holiness Chinna Jeeyar Swamy urged citizens to leave all those acquired on this earth including their organs. Don’t bury or burn your organs. Donate your organs like heart, liver, pancreas, eyes etc. Once you breath last you don’t need them any more, he said.

It doesn’t matter how long you lived. But, it matters is how well you lived. While live, be helpful to others. God will help those who help fellow human beings, he said. He appreciated the Sparsh Hospice team for the wonderful care they have been extending to the terminally ill patients.

Speaking further he added that health of women is more important. We live in women centered society. Once, a woman in the family is ill, the whole family suffers. But, that is not the case with the man, he said. He explained how Vikas Tharangini, a NGO has been providing health care to women. It has reached out to 3,36,000 women in 169 villages, he said.

He also told palliative care specialists to explore other alternative streams of medicine like Homeopathy and Ayurveda in a palliative care.

Dr. Kelle Brogan , the Visiting Palliative Care Specialist at University of Nevada, USA, spoke aboutPalliative care deficiencies in India. She came voluntarily to Hyderabad to train Sparsh staff . Addressing the gathering she said Palliative care is still under served and underutilized in India. There are no trained specialists in this field as this is no degree offered as a specialization in India in this field. Even availability of pain killing drugs (morphine etc.) is very limited. There are also social taboos preventing people from admitting their loved ones to a Hospice care.

End-of-Life Care, is very rudimentary in India and in the last about 20 years, there are just handful of centres in India. Sparsh Hospice is one of the few in the country. Sparsh Hospice is the first home for the terminally ill cancer patients in Hyderabad. It has entered the 5th year of operations.

Sparsh Hospice is a 15 bedded facility located in a rented building in Banjara Hills. The Trust spends Rs 3.5 lakh running it every month. Now there is a huge demand to accommodate more patients. Every year nearly 20,000 people are dying in twin cities. The demand for such care is exploding. There is no care extended by government in this area. Hence there is a need for such facility.

Dr. Rohini, the medical director of Sparsh spoke about how cancer became a great challenge and major issue for the nation. Speaking on the occasion she said even though 50% of the population in India was below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35, the outcome of the working age group is restricted due to health issues. Unfortunately, 71% cancer deaths occur in the age group of 30-69 years. The highly stressful lifestyle combined with poor eating habits has paved way for non communicable diseases. With Cancer emerging victorious, the economic loss to the nation is approximately US $ 0.25 trillion, she said.

Speaking further Dr. Rohini added that according to WHO, 1 in 4 cancer patients in the world were from India.Every year 10 lakh new cancer cases are seen in the country. 70% of these patients are in advanced stages of cancer at diagnosis and will eventually lose the battle, after suffering agonizing pain and distress. The painful treatment and expensive procedures (chemo, radiation) drains the patient and their family members emotionally and financially, she said

Jagdish Ramadugu, Secretary of the Governing Board of the Sparsh Hospice, appraised both visiting dignitaries, its journey, service and future and milestone achievements. He said that it was against this backdrop that Rotary Club of Banjara Hills Charitable Trust established Sparsh Hospice, a home for terminally ill patients. The first hospice and palliative care in the state of Andhra Pradesh/Telangana, Sparsh began operations in 2011, thus completing 5 years. Since inception, the facility has offered compassionate care (pain and symptom relief, along with psychological and spiritual counseling) to over 667 patients and visited the homes of approx 200 families, for free. All the expenses towards patient care are borne entirely by the trust. The trust doesn't charge a single rupee from any of its beneficiaries. A highly dedicated team of doctors, nurses and ayahs help us in accomplishing our goals.

The present facility cannot accommodate more as it is being used to its fullest capacity. It has drawn ambitious plans of expansion, which is mostly dependant on donations. The trust also enjoys exemption of donations under 80G and 35 AC (100%). It also has FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) permission from the Central Government to raise donations from foreign sources. Global organizations with local presence can donate for the cause and still can get tax exemption in their respective countries.