Awareness camps at Durga Puja pandals to help diagnose cancer
Times of India | 3 September 2025
Kolkata: Several puja organisers across the city are set to host cancer awareness camps at pandals during Durga Puja this year. After the festival, the puja committees will hold free cancer screening camps in their respective areas.
Doctors, especially oncologists, see the festival as a means to reach out to the masses and generate public awareness that timely detection can cure the disease.
Around 10 pujas that will spread the message of cancer awareness include Jodhpur Park Sarbojonin, Samaj Sebi Sangha Durga Puja near Kalighat, Kumartuli Sarjonin, Babubagan Durgotsav, Bagbazar Sarbojonin, Ahiritola Sarbojonin, Kashi Bose Lane, Nather Bagan at Beniatola, Ekerpally Nikasi Para, and Dum Dum Tarun Sangha, among others.
In some pujas, the camps will be held till Panchami or Sasthi, while some pujas will have them till Nabami.
Members of these puja committees have decided to put up posters on cancer prevention in their pandals and distribute leaflets containing do's and don'ts to stave off the disease. The pandal hoppers can also register for screening tests, which will be organised by the puja committees subsequently.
The initiative to spread cancer awareness through puja pandals has been taken by Resurrection, a govt registered public charitable trust that has teamed up with doctors and puja committees for the camps.
Tanima Mukherjee, chairperson of the trust, said, "Last year we adopted a project called ‘Ranang Dehi Jayang Dehi' and held cancer awareness camps at some puja pandals. Following a positive response, we are going to organise it in a bigger way, covering more pujas this time.
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A medical team formed with three doctors – Sourav Sinha, oncologist, Megha Khanna, gynaecologist, and Koustav Chakraborty – will move around the city puja pandals for the cancer awareness camp.
Sinha said, "We sensitise people about the symptoms of cancer and, at the same time, counsel cancer survivors. After the puja, we will conduct cancer marker tests like PSA, Pap smear, PFT, and LFT, among others. We have chosen puja because it is a time when we get more people together at a pandal.
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Khanna added, "We try to make people aware of the basic symptoms of cancer. Participating in the camp, pandal hoppers can identify their problems and register for screening tests."
Oncologists who are not part of the medical team for the camp have also flagged the necessity for such an initiative. Subir Ganguly, an oncologist, said, "Generating cancer awareness is the need of the hour. It is a good move that puja committees have come forward to get people to undergo free cancer screening. We need both awareness and screening for early detection of the disease." Another oncologist, Sourav Datta, said, "Any initiative pertaining to the spread of cancer awareness as well as free cancer screening for people is a welcome move if it is done in a systematic way.
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Sumanta Roy, general secretary of Jodhpur Park Sarbojonin Durga Puja, told TOI: "Every year we put up a medical stall at our puja. This time we will use it for the cancer awareness camp, which will start on Sasthi and go on till Nabami. Besides, we have also decided to arrange free cancer marker tests on the premises of our puja pandal on Sasthi and Saptami."
Indrajit Chatterjee, general secretary of Ahiritola Sarbojonin Durgotsav, said, "Last year many people took part in the awareness camp, and they came to us to register their names for the screening tests. This time we expect more turnout in the camp." Partha Roy, general secretary of Bagbazar Sarbojonin Durga Puja, added, "We are already getting queries from people about the camp. Many pandal hoppers who visit our puja from different areas also join the camp.