Karunashraya

Karunashraya – literally meaning “abode of compassion”- is a joint project of ​Indian Cancer Society​ (Karnataka Chapter) and ​Rotary Bangalore Indiranagar​. Karunashraya provides free-of-cost quality palliative care to advanced stage cancer patients who a

We will provide the highest quality in-patient and home-based palliative care, free of cost, to people with a life-limiting illness

We will continuously improve the quality of palliative care provided through research, training and innovation.

We will play a lead role in the advocacy of palliative care.

To provide compassionate palliative care for people with a life-limiting illness, and for those important to them, through quality medical, emotional, spiritual and social support.

In – Patient :

If anything can help advanced stage cancer patients to feel better, it would be the sprawling, green, beautiful and well designed 73 bed in-patient facility at Karunashraya. Here, patients are admitted with the objective of alleviating pain and other distressing symptoms. Our team of Palliative Care professionals is trained to deal with the psychological and spiritual needs of the patients. The nursing staff is especially competent in handling their intensive minute-to-minute,physical requirements. Together, they form a formidable support system that is difficult for patients’ families to provide in their homes during the last stages of Cancer. Thus with the care of Karunashraya’s well-trained and competent team of doctors, nurses, family counselors, physiotherapists, volunteers and administrative staff, they begin to heal spiritually and to come to terms with their illness.

Home Care :

Karunashraya has the distinction of being the first hospice in India to provide free home-care for terminally ill cancer patients. Since the launch of home care services in 1994, we have cared for more than 5000 patients, and have around 50+ patients under our care at any point of time. With our home care services being highly sought after, we have deployed multiple teams who travel through the city to provide home care services.Each home care team consists of multidisciplinary nurses, a physiotherapist, a health assistant and a social worker for giving palliative care including counselling and non-curative treatment. Our home care program is a testimony to our flexible approach in palliative care, focused on patient’s need for comfort.

Nursing Aide Training :

Karunashraya firmly believes in and supports women empowerment. In this context, we provide nursing aide training to young girls (18-22 years) who never had the privilege of higher education due to their weak economic background. This training not only ensures their employability but also equips them with specialized skills to serve advanced stage cancer patients.

The duration of the training is 6 months. Besides free-of-charge training, a monthly stipend is also paid to the trainees. Once trained, they are employed in the hospice as care-givers. Till date, we have successfully completed 22 batches of training.