Position Name: Block Coordinator Cancer care (Consultant Position)
Position Reports: Project Officer, CAPED Project
Duration: 11 months
Location: Blocks of Dhenkanal Districts (Hindol, Odapada, Gondia & Sadar block)
No. of Positions: 04
About PCI Advisory Private Limited (PCI Advisory): PCI Advisory Private Limited is a private limited company registered under the Indian Companies Act 2013, having its registered office at E-117, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-III, New Delhi-110020. PAPL was set up under the PCI brand as an affiliate of PCI India Society, operating under a brand-sharing arrangement that draws on the expertise, brand recognition, and capabilities of PCI India. Even as a private limited entity, PAPL is mandated through its incorporation documents (MoA/AoA) to be a purpose-driven organization dedicated to social development impact.
About Primary Health System Strengthening for Cancer Prevention in Dhenkanal, Odisha Project:
As a significant cause of human morbidity and mortality, cancer has grown to be one of the leading causes of the loss of human lives. Odisha is among top-12 states that have been contributing to the cancer incidence tally of the country. Apart from oral and stomach cancer, cases of breast and cervical cancers are on an alarming rise in the state.
As per latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there has been a 22.5 per cent rise in cancer incidence and 22.6 per cent rise in mortality in the state in the last decade. Oral cancers have been found to be the most common cancer in males owing to high levels of tobacco consumption in the state. Females have reported a high prevalence of cervical cancer owing to low levels of access to health facilities and thereby low levels of screening coverage in the state. The high prevalence of cervical cancer in the state could also be attributed to lack of awareness about the disease. The rise in incidence of breast cancer at 0.5-2% per annum has been seen across all regions of India and in all age groups but more so in the younger age groups (< 45 years). The high prevalence of breast cancers in Odisha could be associated with socio-economic and life-style changes such as late childbearing, dietary changes and associated changes in menstrual patterns.
Studies have revealed a generally low level of awareness, widespread misconceptions, and a diminished perception of personal risk, contributing to negative attitudes toward screening.
The state continues to face significant barriers across the cancer prevention and continuum of care pathway. At the community level, hesitation and fear around screening and confirmatory testing remain high, with many individuals believing that screening will inevitably lead to a cancer diagnosis. As the first point of contact between the community and the health system, ASHAs play a critical role; however, delays in follow-up and limited patient guidance for confirmatory tests often result in drop-offs along the care pathway. On the supply side, healthcare providers frequently face gaps in equipment and limited access to diagnostic services at higher levels of care, contributing to delayed referrals and treatment initiation. The absence of a digital tracking and patient navigation mechanism further weakens continuity of care and timely linkage to services.
In response to these challenges, CAPED and PCI Advisory Pvt Ltd have collaborated to support the state in developing and implementing a district-level intervention package in Dhenkanal to strengthen cancer prevention, screening, referral, and continuum of care services.
Key objectives include:
1. Develop and implement a district- and block-level intervention package to strengthen cancer prevention, screening, early detection, referral, treatment linkage, and follow-up services for cervical, Breast & Oral cancer.
2. Assess and map gaps in equipment, infrastructure, human resources, and service readiness across identified health facilities, and facilitate district government support to strengthen service delivery systems.
3. Build the capacity of ASHAs, and Community Health Officers (CHOs), specialist staff, through structured training and ongoing handholding support for community awareness, primary screening, referral, diagnostic procedures, and continuum of care services in partnership with Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of cancer, Cuttack, (Govt of Odisha's Apex Cancer Hospital).
4. Design and implement a community engagement and mobilization strategy to improve awareness, increase screening uptake, and motivate timely access to screening, referral, and follow-up services.
5. Develop measurable performance indicators and supportive monitoring mechanisms for CHOs and frontline workers to strengthen accountability, motivation, and quality of service delivery.
6. Establish a digital tracking and patient navigation system to enable timely follow-up, referral tracking, treatment linkage, and continuity of care across the patient pathway
About the Assignment
PCI Advisory Pvt Ltd is looking to hire four Block coordinators to carry out demand generation and community engagement, Supply-side strengthening and capacity building and technology-enabled patient tracking and navigation S/he will be accountable for the delivery of project outcomes.
Key Roles and Responsibilities:
Program Implementation
• Support coordination through training on Increasing awareness, improving risk perception, and strengthen uptake of screening and follow-up services through targeted community engagement, behavior change communication, and frontline worker-led mobilization, with a focus on women and high-risk populations.
• Support in gap assessment, structured training, mentoring, and supportive supervision.
• Support quality screening, diagnosis, referral, and continuum of care services and enhance the readiness of health facilities for outreach camps for oral, breast, and cervical cancers.
• Support in capacity building of healthcare providers, ASHAs, CHOs, Nursing officers, MO CHC.
• Facilitate digital data entry for screening, patient navigation, referral tracking, follow-up, and performance monitoring.
• Ensure submission of weekly report of screening, patient navigation, referral tracking, follow-up, and performance monitoring.
• Undertake quality training of FLWs for awareness and mobilization.
• Training CHOs for primary screening methods
• Support referral of screen-positive patients, Facilitate confirmatory diagnosis and treatment
• Provide navigation support to tertiary-level facilities for advanced levels of care
• Support door-to-door mobilization and awareness
Qualification
• BSc nursing from a recognized Institution/University or equivalent.
• Preference will be given to candidates with relevant experience in Public Health and cancer care.
Experience
• A minimum of 1+ years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience in clinical support, capacity building, screening, and working with FLWs and community groups
• Experience in coordination, recording and reporting.
Skills and Competencies
• Understanding of the development sector and critical cross-cutting themes such as NCD, gender, and advocacy
• Ability to work against tight timelines.
• Excellent knowledge of MS office and android applications.
• Fluency in verbal and written Oriya, English & Hindi
• Willingness to be stationed at the block level and travel to the field regularly.