Published on: April 29, 2024

Dr. Hashmath Farhaana S (Associate Programmes, Dept. of Education and Skill Building, Pallium India) writes:

Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (TIPS), Pallium India, conducts awareness sessions on Palliative care regularly at various schools and colleges.

Since March 2024 we have been conducting awareness sessions at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram. And it was my utmost privilege to talk about palliative care for B-Pharm (Bachelor of Pharmacy) and D-Pharm (Diploma in Pharmacy) students on April 6th and 20th, respectively.

Around 100 students attended the session; the group was really vibrant and very interactive.

When I started off with my presentation, I asked them, “Have you ever heard of the term palliative care? If so, what are your thoughts about it?”

They came up with wonderful answers, which surprised me, and there was one student who stood up to explain palliative care with an example, stating that it is for those who are struggling through the troughs of suffering.

He also added that he knew this concept much better as his aunt has been going for palliative care visits as a volunteer for many years. Several other students came forward to share their perspective on palliative care.

The session went for about an hour and as I finished my talk, one student who came to me and said, “Doctor, my older sister had a lump in her neck, and we did investigate it a few weeks ago. The reports came, and we met a doctor who said that it was not cancer and sent us back home. My sister seemed to be very anxious and tensed all the time, and she was worried about it before the reports came. Though we knew about it as a family, we didn’t address her emotions. But today I understand that I shouldn’t have ignored it; instead, I heard her speak her heart out in such difficult situations.”

She added, “Doctor, today I have learned the importance of love, empathy, and how to communicate with those who are suffering.”