BCH is the pioneer - 34 villages (Assam, West Bengal, odisha: february 2020 to august 2024) adopted for door to door cancer screening awareness-education, treatment, management, palliative care & epidemiological research study. more in progress
Breast Cancer Hub's grassroots solutions in BCH Adopted Villages, taking care of each patient for All types of Suspicious Cases of Cancers. Door-to-door Cancer screening-awareness, Diagnosis, Treatment Management Aid and Counselling. We go to each house, generating awareness, teaching Breast Self-Exam, Self-Oral Screening, discussing signs & symptoms of all other cancers, and providing BCH Early detection cards (All Cancers) for each family. From no awareness, now each & every family has become aware of symptoms of Cancers after our penetration. We monitor & manage each suspicious case individually, case by case. We take the suspicious cases to hospitals, for further screening, diagnosis, and treatment. We collaborate with the hospitals providing treatment at subsidized rates under the government-aided schemes but the remaining treatment expenses, BCH covers. The villagers are daily wage earners living a hand-to-mouth existence without any savings. On many occasions, there is no person in the family to accompany the patient to the hospital, eventually delaying or skipping treatment. BCH team takes care end to end, starting from providing transport, purchasing medicines, diagnostic tests, that are not covered under the government schemes. BCH team assists the patients by taking them to the hospital, helping with income certificate, government health cards, hospital registration, patient communication with the doctor, accompanying them in the full diagnosis process, buying necessary medicines, dropping them home with follow-ups & counseling. BCH provides treatment aid to the poor and needy and before giving the Aid, our team conducts background verification of the economic status of the family of the patient. We take accountability of each case, helping them from beginning to end, maintaining database of each member.
Each Life Counts & Early Detection is the Key
#TogetherWeSaveLives #BreakTheBreastTaboo #BreakTheCancerTaboo #CancerIsNotContagious #KnowYourBody #CancerHubs
The thoughts of village adoption…started from Bhorakhai tea garden area, Assam, India..
the inception of village adoption…
Comes from an emotional drive, I met an 18 year old girl during the camp/outreach in Bhorakhai, Cachar, Assam on July 28, 2019. After my session, the girl was in tears & mentioned “why didn’t you come to my village last year, my mother just died of Breast Cancer as she was not aware of the signs & symptoms and was also shy to speak about it due to Breast “Taboo”. That’s when I made the decision as a promise to myself- No more Lives to be Lost due to ignorance & stigma from this village. BCH wing-Oral Cancer Hub initiated - during the outreaches, I realized that Tobacco chewing is existent in mostly each & every household in North-east India & people are ignorant about the deleterious effects leading to Cancer & more specifically oral cancer with no early detection screening performed. BCH wing- Cervical Cancer Hub came into existence as Cervical Cancer is one of the Top cancers in India with hardly any screening done & women are not aware of the signs & symptoms. Through our Lung, Colon, Stomach, & other Hubs, we are geneating awarenes for other types of Cancers.
We conduct door to door Breast Cancer Screening, Oral Cancer Screening & discuss the signs & symptoms of Cervical, Colon, Stomach, Lung, Head & neck & other type of Cancers. We package the BCH Early Detection Cancer Screening Cards & provide to each household. Any suspicious cases, we take to Cancer Hospital for further diagnosis. We take care of Cancer Treatment, Management & palliative care. We take accountability of each patient. We discuss Cancer preventable measures & campaign against Tobacco consumption.
Cachar, Assam - 18 villages till August 2024
We take the suspicious cases to Cachar Cancer Hospital (CCH) for further diagnosis and treatment. The director of CCH is Padma Shri recipient Dr. Ravi Kannan. Or we take our patients to Silchar Medical College for the villages we adopted in the Cachar district, Assam. The hospitals provide treatment in subsidized rate under the government Aided schemes.
TEAM
1. Dr. Lopamudra Das Roy, Founder-BCH (as pro bono & voluntary)- Principal Investigator
2. Project Coordinator- Sanalembi Devi
3. Project Field Workers : Sapna Pashi, Ranjita Singha, Sarita Singha, Sangeeta Bagdi, Langlen Singha; Mimila Chanu (March-August 2020), Uma Nunia (July 2020), S Nilkamal Singha (September 2020), Pallabi Patro (Decemeber 2020 – February 2021)
ASSAM: BCH Villages Adoption in India (February 2020 onwards): 18 villages in Cachar District, Assam.
Here’s the detailed information of the villages BCH adopted in Assam: Bantarapur is a habitat of people belonging to Manipuri (Meitei) community. The habitat comes under following revenue villages, Sunadiri Part-II, Sundari Part-III, Sundari Part-IV, Boalihaor, Sentcatherine and falls under Sonai Development Block. Sundari-II falls under Hatikhal Gaon Panchayat and Sundari –III & IV, Boali and Sentcatherine falls under Sundari Gaon Panchayat. Most of the families of these villages are dependent on Agriculture for livelihood along with people working in other sectors. Bhorakhai is one of the divisions of Silcoorie Tea Eastate. It comes under Borjalenga Development Block of Cachar District. People of this area mostly belong to the Bhojpuri, Desuali and Bengali communities and are economically backward. Most of the people of this area work in Silcoorie Tea Estate and others sustain through daily wage-earning activities. Villages under Hatikhal Gaon panchayat selected are Bidruhi Par, Sundari Part-I, Sundari Part-II, Bhaurikandi Part-I, Bhaurikandi Part-I and Dharamkhal Division of Silcoorie Tea Estate. Majority of the people under Hatikhal Gaon Panchayat belong to the Muslim community, Maimals (fishermen being the occupation) along with Agriculture. Most of the people of Dharamkhal are daily wage earners, working in Silcoorie Tea Estate. Majority of the families of these villages are financially/economically extremely challenged and categorized under Below Poverty Line.
The 18 Villages BCH adopted since February 2020: Sundari Part-I, Sundari Part-II, Sundari Part-III, Sundari Part-IV, Boali Haor, Sentcatherine, Bidruhipar, Baurikhandi Part-I, Baurikhandi Part-II, Kachudaram Part-I, Kachudaram Part-II,Kachudaram Part-III, Kachudaram Part-IV, Bariknagar Part -I, Bariknagar Part-II, Saidpur Part-II and Dakshin Mohanpur) and one tea garden area (Silocoorie Tea Estate). More in progress
Impact & Success: FEBRUARY 2020 - November 2023: Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) screened 20,000 Villagers in the 17 Villages BCH adopted in Cachar Assam, India between February 2020-November 2023 (More in progress) executing Door to door cancer screening, Treatment Management, Follow-ups with support & counseling. We detected 229 suspicious cases of Breast, Cervical, Oral & Other cancers
2. In all the villages, the population was ~100% NOT AWARE on Cancer signs & symptoms before BCH penetrated. After our door to door screening awareness, everyone is alert of Breast & Oral Self screening examination and have become conscious. Most of the people link their diseases to spiritual or religious myths. Therefore, most of the time for any disease villagers prefer going to local faith healers. In this process they lose their valuable time for proper treatment, ultimately leading to death.
Each & every family has now become aware about symptoms of cancer especially, Breast, Oral and Cervical, & other types of Cancer and BCH team has become the bridge to connect with healthcare system, taking accountability of each patient, their treatment, transport, care, counselling & management.
3. Anti-TOBACCO CAMPAIGN: BCH team’s anti-tobacco campaign is helping, and the villagers are trying to reduce or eliminate.
4. Patient treatment Management: 229 Suspicious cases of Breast, Cervical, Oral, Colon and other types of Cancers. We monitor & manage each suspicious case individually, case by case. We take the suspicious cases to Cachar Cancer Hospital, or Silchar Medical College, for further screening, diagnosis, and treatment. The hospitals provide treatment at subsidized rates under the government-aided schemes & we are thankful for their services but the remaining treatment expenses, BCH covers. The villagers are daily wage earners living a hand-to-mouth existence without any savings. On many occasions, there is no person in the family to accompany the patient to the hospital, eventually delaying or skipping treatment. BCH team takes care end to end, starting from providing transport, purchasing medicines, diagnostic tests, that are not covered under the government schemes. BCH team assists the patients by taking them to the hospital, helping with income certificate, AAA card, hospital registration, patient communication with the doctor, accompanying them in the full diagnosis process, buying necessary medicines, dropping them home with follow-ups & counseling.
5. Covid-19 Response: Food relief to 674 Families (4289 villagers, starving, in need), extremely poor families starving due to lockdown constraints, in the villages BCH adopted for Cancer Screening & Treatment. Strategy: We respect the dignity of each person who lost their daily wage-earning to Lockdown, so we maintain database & reach out to the utmost need with follow-ups & go to their doorstep. Food Relief continues.
BCH helped implement and execute health and safety measures via Covid-19 awareness, mask & sanitizer distribution, enforcing guidelines and helping to prevent covid-19 spread in market places with local vendors and public gatherings.
FOOD RELIEF WORK - FIND OUT MORE
COVID – 19 AWARENESS MEASURES - LEARN MORE
TESTIMONIALS ON BCH INDIA COVID – 19 SERVICE - KNOW MORE
RIGOROUS WORK IN PROGRESS, COVERING MORE VILLAGES AND PATIENTS.
TIRUVALLUR DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU
TIRUVALLUR DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU :July 22, 24, 24 (Tamil Nadu): After a series of groundwork in the area, Breast Cancer Hub Adopts Bagathsing Nagar Village, Veeraganallur Panchayat, Tiruvallur District, Tamil Nadu for door-to-door Cancer screening-awareness, Diagnosis, Treatment Management Aid and Counselling, taking care end-to-end. After our huge success in Villages adoption in Assam, we are now replicating the same in other parts of India. I (Dr Lopamudra Das Roy) was so touched meeting the Bagathsing village residents, who welcomed and embraced us with love and hope, and we will do everything possible for them.
The Bagathsing village adoption couldn’t have been successful without the help and guidance of the Rehoboth Team: A. Joseph Rexon, A.D Muniendiran, Anandan P. Our BCH field workers will be Chitra and Maheswari, who are local residents of the Bagathsing village. We will first take the suspicious cases to the Beerukapam Primary Health Center Thiruvellur. After the preliminary screening, as needed, we will take the patients to CMC Vellore under the guidance of Dr M.J. Paul, Professor and Head, Endocrine Surgery, CMC for further diagnosis and treatment. I am so thankful to Dr Paul and his team, for the assurance that our patients will receive the subsidized treatment once we process the needed income health cards.
Due to the kind introduction from Dr. Bagyam, I also met Bhooma Parthsdsrathy, Thirumalai Mission Hospital, Ranipet, who also supported our initiative.
August 6, 7: Breast Cancer Hub adopts Kumari village and Huda village in Nadia District, WestBengal, after I did lot of groundwork
nadia district, west bengal - 5 villages till august 2024
Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) Adopted Kumari village (an extremely interior, the India-Bangladesh border) and Huda Village (a tribal-dominated ), Ramnagar Village, Kushaberia village, Nathkura village, in Nadia District, WB, India, for door-to-door Cancer screening-awareness, Diagnosis, Treatment Management Aid and Counselling, taking care end-to-end after a series of groundwork in the area. After conducting the community outreaches and creating the teams in August 2022 during my (Dr Lopamudra Das Roy) in-person fieldwork in the areas, as follow-ups, I am executing the overall supervision with close monitoring through WhatsApp calls & team zoom meetings. I am extremely thankful to Sreema Mahila Samity, for the collaboration, that helped us reach the Huda and the interiors of Kumari village. Our BCH field workers are Rimpa Biswas, Sima Basak, Ratna Basak, who are local residents of Kumari & Huda village. The Nadia project is also supervised by Mr. Akhaya Mohanty and Mr. Sabarna Saraswati is the Field Project lead and directly supervises our Field workers for accuracy and transparency. We take the suspicious cases to the Krishnanagar District Hospital, Duttapulia local hospital or other local hospitals providing free/subsidized treatment. After the preliminary screening, as needed, we will take the patients to Kolkata for further diagnosis and treatment if required or find other hospitals to treat the case locally. We received assurance from the local hospital doctor and nurse, that our patients will receive the subsidized treatment once we process the needed income health cards.
Patrapur Block, Ganjam District, Odisha - 12 villages till august 2024
2023: After a series of groundwork, Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) adopted three very interior villages in Buratal Gram Panchayat (Buratal, Sapua Khata, Dhobatia), predominantly Adivasi residents, located in Patrapur block of Ganjam district of Odisha. After adoption, it is our responsibility, so we make sure that we collaborate with the local village hospitals and the city hospitals, so that we have the resources for our patients to get treated as we accompany our patients to the hospitals, taking care end to end. It was my (Dr Lopamudra Das Roy) privilege to meet Dr Roja Ramani (thank you Dr Palanki Satya Dattatreya for connecting us), from M.K.C.G Medical College in Brahmapur, and we discussed BCH collaboration with M.K.C.G hospital ). We also collaborated with the Patrapur Block Primary Health Centre and also Primary health center at Jarada Ganjam, so that we bring our suspicious cases to the immediate local hospitals. It was great interacting with everyone and also mentoring our new Buratal village adoption team: Ms Harapriya Paik and Mrs Laxmubai Paika.
12 Villages adopted till November 2023 to August 2024 in Odisha (More in progress): Buratal, Lokasahi, Chakamba, Gouduni, Bhoukasahi, Burasahii, Tabudia, Sindurabada, Banuasahi, Metusahi, Bata Sahi, Dhepasahi
BCH Cancer Research penetrates into the untapped sectors for substantial impactful scientific analysis, working towards changing healthcare policies, and come up with solutions at the grassroots level.
We proudly accounce that our Poster got accepted at St John’s National Academy of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, 3rd Annual Research Day April 8, 9, 2021.
Title: Investigating the cancer awareness status, underlying determinants leading to late detection, navigating the suspicious cases, and addressing the challenges with grassroots solutions during the Covid-19 pandemic in the villages adopted by Breast Cancer Hub (BCH) in Cachar, Assam, India
