Liliana De Lima from IAHPC writes to inform us that the World Health Organisation has published a revised model list of essential medicines. IAHPC had a major role in preparation of this; congratulations, Liliana and team.

The list for adults can be downloaded  from here and for children from here. The section on palliative care includes 17 medicines. Aspirin, Ibuprofen and Paracetamol feature in the non-opioid analgesic section. Codeine and Oral Morphine are the two opioid analgesics. For children, the included analgesics are Ibuprofen, Paracetamol and Morphine.

By the way, these are also on India’s own list of essential medicines.

In India, lay periodicals keep coming out with lists of “40 Best Hospitals in India”, “50 Best Medical Colleges in India” and so on. Perhaps it is time someone bothered to ask these “best” hospitals and other institutions, how many of them stock the essential “oral morphine” and whether they have any doctor trained in using it effectively!

And, to ensure that the medicine does reach the person who needs it, we might as well remember the framework that WHO recommends in this picture.