ATHANI Narikkuni

ATHANI's precursor "Narikkuni Pain and Palliative Care Centre" was constituted in August 2005, as a humble beginning to ensure the basic palliative care to cancer patients and paraplegics in the locale, and started functioning in a small one room office provided free of charge by the NIC, Narikkuni. At the beginning 25 patients were enrolled for Outpatient and Home care services.



Within two years, the Centre grew in size and repute. The number of patients to whom we reached out was increasing day by day, and also the number of volunteers who joined us. Home care, OP Clinic, volunteer training, camps, and awareness programmes were conducted regularly. The role of the Centre in the society became very significant and well appreciated. Our association with the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozhikode, helped to ensure scientific methodology in our functioning.

We recognized the important issues faced by the victims of fatal diseases in the society, and tried to solve them in the best possible way, with commendable success. We studied how other similar organizations and experts tackle similar issues, and augmented our own strategies using such inputs. The need for a palliative care complex for the care and rehabilitation of poor and/or abandoned patients was realized as a high priority objective. This idea took shape slowly and emerged as "ATHANI" in August 2011.

The only hindering force on our way was the limits in resources and amenities. Help in different forms indeed came from time to time. NIC, once again in 2007, allowed extending the office into 4 rooms free of charge. In 2008, P.T.A. Rahim MLA granted an ambulance using his development funds. A kind well-wisher allowed us to start a make-shift destitute home in his property in Madavoor free of charge in November 2011. In 2012 Chovvancheri Amina Umma Trust headed by Mr. Abdul Azeez donated a jeep. In 2013, Rs. 20 lacs were allowed by Hon. M.P. Achyuthan M.P. and Rs. 15 lac by Hon, M.K. Raghavan M.P. from their development funds, and Mr. P.C. Thahir bestowed us by a donation of Rs. 5 lacs.

Above all, the collective aids from many individuals and organizations culminated in our purchase of 50-cent plot near Narikkuni town in 2011. In the most remarkable single event in our history, the foundation stone for the ATHANI complex was laid by the Honorable Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Oommen Chandy on 17.02.2012. A small part of the proposed destitute home was constructed soon and the inmates from our make-shift destitute home were shifted to the new facility by mid-2013.

September 2013 is a very special month in our history, as the inaugurations of the construction work of the fully fledged separate men's and women's blocks of the destitute home, and the Occupational training centre takes place on 21st and 22nd. And our work for the past 8 years gets a huge recognition when our Centre is declared as a peripheral centre of the Institute of Palliative Medicine, Kozhikode on 22nd.