Published on: February 28, 2017

Uttarakhand, the land-locked small state in North India, is often called Devbhoomi (Land of the Gods).

In a quest to make the Devbhoomi a really compassionate state, palliative care activists have been trying hard to increase the reach of palliative care, which, at the moment, is confined to tiny pockets.

Under the leadership of the mission director, Dr Neeraj Kharwal IAS, the government officials in health, National Health Mission and Drug Control, got together with palliative care activists on a planning exercise, discussing problems and seeking solutions. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that palliative care needed to be brought into health care in the state. The inevitable question about addiction potential of morphine did come up, as it must. The issue was discussed and doubts cleared. Dr Neeraj Kharwal has created an action plan and we are so very hopeful of the future.

Pallium India is proud to be associated with the palliative care pioneers Dr Aditi Chaturvedi and Dr Brenda Ward from Ganga Prem Hospice, Dr Ann Thyle of Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA) and Dr Mayank Gupta, with whom Pallium India has initiated a pioneering project in Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical & Health Sciences (SGRRIMHS), Dehradun, with the help of Tata Trust.