The urgent need for palliative care training
Palliative care has to be part of all COVID-19 management; but it becomes mandatory in those with serious illness.
In their article published in BMJ blogs titled “The arrival of COVID-19 in low and middle-income countries should promote training in palliative care“, Pallium India’s chairman Dr M. R. Rajagopal and Dr Richard Smith, former editor of British Medical Journal, stress the importance of providing training and exposure to palliative care to doctors.
They write: “…whether it is a pandemic or the death that comes to all human beings from a variety of causes, including cancers and the frailty of old age, all dying people need not be and should not be subjected to aggressive life support systems, including artificial ventilation of the lungs.”