Just 2% have access to palliative care in India
“Just 1%-2% people have access to palliative care or pain management in India, which is a land of paradoxes. We have a national programme for palliative care but even today medical students do not learn pain management from the curriculum,” says Dr M. R. Rajagopal, Chairman of Pallium India, in an interview with Jyoti Shelar of The Hindu.
“For most severe pains like two-thirds of cancers, major trauma, surgical pain, one cannot manage without opioids, which reach less than 2% of the needy in the country. However, the country grows poppy, makes opium and exports it to the rest of the world. That is the paradox.”
“India needs three things: a policy and a plan for implementing it; availability of the essential medications; and education and public awareness.”
Read the interview here: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/just-2-have-access-to-palliative-care-in-india/article24176073.ece
Please note: The article states, “Every single nurse in the primary health centre in the State is now trained in palliative care.” It should read, “Every single primary health centre in the State has a nurse trained in palliative care.”
Comments are closed.
