Vancouver, B.C. (April 10, 2025) – Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration (TWCC) and Lions Gate Hospital (LGH) partnered to provide a clinical observership to help build cancer care in Nepal. TWCC is a Canada based charity dedicated to supporting palliative care and healthcare capacity building in South and Southeast Asia.
Dr. Shama Pandey, a Medical Oncology fellow at Bir Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, joined the LGH oncology team for four weeks supervised by LGH oncologist and TWCC Medical Oncology Lead Dr. Puneet Bains.
Dr. Pandey observed care in the LGH oncology out-patient and chemotherapy clinics last fall and did a one week rotation with the LGH palliative care team, including hospice and home visits.
“I witnessed something that is very different from our health-care system,” Dr. Pandey said. “Everything in Canada is very guideline based, which we don’t have in Nepal. We don’t have any national guidelines for cancer yet.”
Dr. Pandey said she was inspired by her week observing the LGH palliative care team.
“It’s basically just pain medication [in Nepal], just managing the physical symptoms. It was interesting to see the whole palliative care team having morning meetings – the doctor, nurse, spiritual practitioner, and the social worker,” she said. “Also, we barely talk about dying. There is a stigma.”
Dr. Pandey added that she will incorporate some of the difficult-conversation communication skills she observed in practice at LGH in talking with her patients in Nepal.
The observership was also a learning experience for Dr. Bains and the oncology and palliative care teams at LGH.
“Having seen first-hand the lack of access patients in Nepal face and the limited treatments available for doctors to administer, I learned a lot from Dr. Pandey as well,” Dr. Bains said.
Dr. Pandey will be taking the cancer care best practices learned in B.C. back to Nepal and she believes the experience will benefit her patients now and into the future.
For more information on TWCC or LGH oncology, please see their websites.
About Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration:
Two Worlds Cancer Collaboration is a Canadian-based charity that supports palliative and health care capacity building in South and Southeast Asia. The volunteer-based charity, initially focused on palliative care for cancer patients in the region. Today, TWCC supports locally developed and led programs which now include cancer care and early detection, as well as palliative care for other life-limiting illnesses. twoworldscancer.ca
