Playback singers S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and Divya Raghavan will be lending their voice to Swaraanubhuthi, a charitable cause of raising funds for the palliative care programme that has supported more than 2,000 terminally ill people in Mysuru for the last 11 years.
The programme, started by the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) in 2009-10, has been serving poor patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, among others, in Mysuru.
Swaraanubhuthi will be held at the KSOU convocation hall in Mysuru between 5.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. on February 9. Funds raised from the musical event will be used to further expand the programme. To buy tickets or make donations, call on 98863-79529, 88616-94057 or 99004-08284.
After starting a home-based care for the terminally ill during 2009-10, SVYM extended the facility to Hassan in association with Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences in June 2018. Presently, the home-based palliative care offered by SVYM is serving 392 patients in Mysuru and 270 patients in Hassan.
In January 2019, SVYM started a comprehensive palliative care centre in association with Mysore Medical College and Research Institute at PKTB Sanatorium and C.D. Hospital. It provides institutional care to patients when it becomes difficult to manage them at home as symptoms will be severe. “When they report acute symptoms, we admit them to our inpatient facility,” said Dr. Vibha from SVYM.
The centre currently has eight patients. “We have occupancy of 50% every day.” With the home-based care restricted to Mysuru and Hassan districts, the centre offers outpatient facility to patients from villages in Chamarajanagar, Mandya and Kodagu districts as well.
