National Florence Nightingale 2008

Reverend Sister Merlin, one of the pioneers of palliative nursing in India and an active worker with the Pain and Palliative Care Society at Calicut from its beginning, formally retired from Kerala Government Service on 26 May 2011.

She was the winner of the prestigious National Florence Nightingale Award for Nursing Personnel in 2008, which she had received from the President of India, Prathibha Patil.

Best wishes for the new phase of your life, Sister Merlin.

You may have formally retired from Government service, but we have no doubt that you will be active in palliative nursing for many many years to come!

Thank you, Doordarshan!

The national television channel Doordarshan (Malayalam) has been exceptionally supportive of palliative care. In their live phone-in program, Snehasparsham, palliative care has had a strong presence for the last several months.

Dr MC Rajasree on DDTV Malayalam

One recent phone-in program was conducted by Dr M.C. Rajasree from Pain and Palliative Care Society, Calicut. The nature of questions clearly indicated how commonly patients and families were at a loss about whom to approach for help.

This is particularly relevant in India, where the “general practitioner” is practically non-existent and in practice, patients are left to find out for themselves which specialist to approach.

Dr Rajasree directed each questioner to the nearest palliative care unit for advice. This clearly demonstrates a hidden service that palliative care services are doing. They explain. They talk to patients and help to direct them to the appropriate medical service that would be suitable for them.

But the need for this service is not taken seriously, perhaps. Palliative care services in Kerala have by and large catered to general health needs of people.

Perhaps we need to give more attention to patient navigation?

Two of us at Pallium India had an opportunity to attend a refresher course in palliative care for doctors held at the institute and to see first-hand the tremendous progress made by the center.

The course demonstrated the great value of educational opportunities for professionals who go through short training programs and feel the need to update their knowledge.

We congratulate the Trissur team.