Bhubaneswar: A group of youths from the state, mainly software engineers with some support from their counterparts abroad, are now working tirelessly to prevent new incidents of cancer and linking the patients with hospitals.
The journey started in 2015 with crowd sourcing support by the youths. Later, they went ahead to add more innovations and ways to reach out to more people.
“First, we visited a village near Konark where a colon cancer patient had attempted suicide due to the pain he was living with. Poor level of awareness about the disease we noticed there baffled us. We decided first to create awareness. We prepared posters, organised sessions and talked to the local doctors to raise awareness,” said Nitai Panigrahi, one of the founding members of the squad.
The team later observed that with this pace, their reach could be very limited. It went ahead and came up with the idea of easy to understand communication means which can give, even the illiterate in remote rural areas access to required information through photos and other attractive means.
“We launched a ‘Cancer Chalisa’ akin to the religious booklet ‘Hanuman Chalisa’. We tried to use visual mediums to ensure the information reaches out to all concerned. Through pictorial and some minor texts, we gave all required information like symptoms of cancer, dos and don’ts in such cases, the myths around the disease, government schemes available for the patients and their nearest hospital,” Payal Patra, an Odia engineer based in New York told Orissa POST.
Buoyed by the higher level of penetration of mobiles in rural areas the team launched a mobile application, available in Odia and English which has the required information for the cancer patients. The app gives all information like signs of cancer, government schemes, ways to register for such schemes and where to visit in such cases. The team has now linked itself with some of hospitals providing cancer treatments like AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. The team, ‘Umeedein’, is providing cancer navigators to aid the cancer patients at AIIMS.
“We help all the cancer patients visiting AIIMS. Many of them are from rural areas and are educationally backward. We help them in filling up forms, informing them about the departments to visit, arrange blood for them, talk to them about government schemes and free stays and other philanthropic services available around for them,” said Santanu Kumar Jena, cancer navigator at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar.
Currently working in Bargarh and Bhadrak, the youths are making the cancer survivors the mascots of the drive.
“There were existing ‘Fighters Groups’ comprising cancer survivors in Bargarh, we joined hands with them and tried to make it more organised. These cancer survivors undertake discussion sessions, speak at local levels and spread the message that cancer is curable and cite their own example. They also talk about the early signs and how to fight the disease,” said Deepak Biswal, another member of the squad.
The youths have roped in local ANMs, anganwadi workers, chemists and doctors who are often the first persons to be contacted. The outfit has been making demands from the state government to ensure controlled usage of pesticides in Bargarh and make policies accordingly to keep any potential threat of cancer at bay.