On May 20th 2019 ASHIC launched Bangladesh’s first “ASHIC Mobile Pediatric Palliative Care Clinic” (ASHIC Mobile PPCC). On a grant from NVIDIA, a U.S. technology company, which was sent to ASHIC through its affiliate organization SpaandanB, the Mobile PPCC will provide transportation services and other facilities for 2 years to an estimated 600 children living in rural areas, accompanied with a community awareness campaign.
The uniquely fitted ambulance has already served 129 cases by providing transportation to patients from ASHIC Palliative Care Unit (PCU) in Dhaka to the treating pediatric cancer hospital, and also to terminally ill cancer children heading back to their villages from PCU. In addition, the ambulance is used to transport deceased children back to their home villages for proper burial rites. Without the ASHIC PPCC, deceased children of poor families were often carried back via public transportation, a devastating experience for all involved. Till now 8 families have been served.
In select areas of patient’s rural locality, ASHIC arranges workshops on Palliative Care for local medical professionals and family members, designed to create a network of local support for the children with cancer. 360 participants attended the awareness workshops, leading to positive impacts in their communities.
