Our Cancer center "Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital and Research Institute (BIACH&RI), located in the city of Hyderabad, Telangana state, India, was inaugurated on 22nd June 2000. It was a joint collaboration between Nandamuri Basava Taraka Ramarao Memorial Cancer Foundation (NBTRCF) and Indo American Cancer Organization (IACO).

Our hospital is a 650 bedded facility with various specialties involved in cancer care like medical oncology, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, pain and palliative medicine, onco anaesthesia, onco pathology, social welfare and laboratory medicine. We are ranked the sixth best cancer centre in India as per "The WEEK- Hansa survey on best hospitals in oncology" in the year of 2021.

Profile
Our department was inaugurated as a pain clinic on 1st August 2018 and since then we have started out-patient and in-patient services to various wards in our centre. We renamed the department as the "Pain and Palliative Medicine department" in June 2021 and inaugurated a 12 bedded palliative care ward. In February 2022 we started a formal 3 year Diplomate of National Board course in Palliative Medicine for post MBBS doctors. Our department has three consultants and two resident doctors. We have eight nurses and a social worker who work in shifts. Our department conducts regular weekly seminars and journal clubs for resident doctors along with bedside teaching.

Specialities
Cancer pain management. Non cancer pain in a cancer patient. Adult palliative care. Paediatric palliative care. End of life care. Interventional pain management. Interventions to relieve distress (pigtail placement, indwelling tunneled catheters placement). Terminal sedation. Psychosocial and spiritual counseling. Rehabilitation therapy at our wellness centre "Addlife". Respite care.

Our department is focused on providing holistic palliative care to all patients. Patients who require palliative care are identified by the primary physician or palliative physician and then an outpatient or inpatient based referral is made. Assessment of the patient is done via various questionnaires and scales and treatment is then prescribed. If a patient requires admission, or when caregiver distress is identified, then admission is advised and the goals of care are formulated. Patients who require psychosocial counseling are attended by a social worker and clinical psychologist. Patients who require home care are followed up by video call based consults. We also work in liaison with home care teams who provide visits during working hours.