July 2025
National Doctors’ Day 2025
Honouring the Doctors Who Walk with the Weary
Each year on July 1, we pause to honour the doctors of India — the healers, the guides, the quiet pillars who stand beside us in sickness and in health. But for those of us in palliative care, Doctors’ Day holds an even deeper meaning. Palliative care doctors are not just medical professionals. They are witnesses to human suffering in its rawest form — not always with cures to offer, but always with presence, honesty, and unwavering compassion.
It takes a special kind of courage to do this work. To sit with patients when there are no easy answers. To hold space for families navigating loss, fear, and uncertainty. To say, “I cannot change the outcome, but I will walk beside you.”
At Pallium India, we see this courage every day— in the home care teams who drive miles to remote villages, in the doctors who advocate for access to pain relief, in the teachers who pass on their knowledge so that no patient suffers needlessly. This Doctors’ Day, we celebrate these quiet heroes who remind us that true healing is not always found in prescriptions or procedures — but in dignity, comfort, and connection.
We also recognise that being a doctor, especially in palliative care, can be emotionally demanding. The well-being of those who care for others often goes unnoticed. Let this day also serve as a reminder to care for the carers — to nurture their mental health, to support their resilience, and to create spaces where they, too, can be vulnerable.
To every doctor walking this difficult, beautiful path: thank you for choosing compassion. Thank you for reminding us that in the face of life’s fragility, human connection is the greatest medicine of all.
Happy Doctors’ Day from all of us at Pallium India. ♥️
Welcome to a new edition of Pallium India’s newsletter. Thank you for joining us. Here you can find updates from the palliative care world, upcoming events including training for professionals and volunteers, interesting articles, career opportunities and so on.
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The Razors Edge: Maintaining Integrity in Medical Practice
(Doctors’ Day Guest Opinion Piece)
‘Integrity is choosing thoughts & actions based on values rather than personal gains’ – Chris Karcher
Dr. Savita Butola writes:
The years in which I grew up, I saw medicine as a mission, not as a profession. Amidst a family that served either in the armed forces or in the medical profession, work ethics meant honesty, ‘service before self’ and ‘people before profit’. Money was to be ‘kept in the pocket and not in the heart’. Fifty years later, it is a different world. In 1996, it was shocking enough to hear that healthcare had been included by the Supreme Court in the Consumer Protection Act, putting medicine in the same bracket as other consumer goods and services.
Most of us feared that doctors would start practising defensive medicine rather than using clinical judgement, translating into higher costs for patients. It is almost thirty years now since that change and I still feel myself cringe every time I hear or read the word ‘client’ or ‘consumer’ instead of ‘patient’.
(Dr Savita Butola is currently the Commandant at the Border Security Force Hospital, STC Udhampur. She is a Senior Tutor with Cardiff University, UK, past Secretary of the Indian Association of Palliative Care. Dr Butola has served for 30 years in the armed forces with 16 years experience in palliative care)
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Education Support
At Pallium India, we believe that palliative care isn’t just about easing pain — it’s about protecting the future of families left vulnerable by life-limiting illnesses.
Many children of bedridden or terminally ill parents face an uncertain future — their education interrupted, their dreams put on hold, their childhood weighed down by survival. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
With just ₹6500 per year, you can help cover the cost of a child’s education – including school uniforms, books, and stationeries – and give them what they deserve most: a chance to dream.
Beyond the Sessions: Reflections from the Field
More than Medicine: How one Home Visit redefined my understanding of Care
When I recently joined the Facilitation team at Pallium India, I carried with me a background in paramedical sciences, having completed my Bachelor’s in Anaesthesia. My academic and clinical exposure had already sparked a keen interest in palliative care. But nothing could have prepared me for how profoundly my first home care visit in Kerala would change me — not just as a professional, but as a human being. Until that moment, my understanding of palliative care was shaped by textbooks and hospital corridors. I believed it was largely about end-of-life support, pain management, and symptom relief. But walking into the homes of patients, I realised it was something far deeper.
Palliative care, I discovered, is not just about treating illness — it’s about relieving suffering in all its forms – physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual. I met people living with paraplegia, diabetic complications, psychiatric conditions, visual impairments, and elderly individuals left to navigate life in isolation — many from tribal and rural communities. What struck me most was that the suffering wasn’t contained within the patients alone.
It quietly wrapped itself around families, caregivers, and entire households, often hidden from view.
At that moment, I understood — palliative care isn’t about disease. It’s about people.
Mehak Chopra
Regional Facilitator, Pallium India
PhD Scholar (Public Health), Parul University, Vadodara
International
GANOLSAVAM 2025
Now in its 16th year, Ganolsavam is the largest Malayalam music event in the Pacific Northwest, entirely powered by a passionate team of volunteers. Dozens of singers, musicians, and behind-the-scenes organizers donated their time and talent—not just to entertain, but to uplift lives across the globe.
This year’s Ganolsavam, hosted by Seattle Saptaswara in partnership with Care & Share and Disha, was more than an evening of music—it was a moving expression of solidarity with the mission of Pallium India. As part of Pallium USA’s broader commitment to supporting palliative care efforts in India, Ganolsavam has become a shining example of how art, community, and compassion can converge to create lasting impact
EAPC World Congress
The European Association for Palliative Care World Congress took place in Helsinki, Finland between 29th and 31st May 2025.
The theme was “Ready for the future”.
Pallium India’s Head of Strategic Programs and Partnerships, Smriti Rana was invited as a keynote speaker.
Smriti’s keynote was titled ‘Palliative Care in High and Low-Middle Income Countries: Learning from each other”. Through her talk, Smriti highlighted several key issues, like the erasure of the perspectives, priorities and lived experience of those from the Global South, and the huge gaps in research that inform global policies. She called for the re-shaping of policies and guidelines to be more aligned with the needs of the majority, which is currently not the case. At the end of the keynote, Smriti closed with a call for ‘Generous listening’ between different parts of the world, in order to be able to respond in a way that is respectful and context-appropriate.
KindKart Charity Walk
On June 21 in Cupertino, Pallium India Bay Area Volunteers also participated as a team in a local charity walk, raising awareness about Pallium India, and earning approximately $300 to support charity organizations in India. Their presence highlighted Pallium India’s work and invited meaningful conversations with fellow participants.
National
A New Chapter for Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Palliative Care and Pain Relief Take Center Stage
Pallium India, in collaboration with the National Health Mission, has ignited a much-needed conversation on palliative care in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. With the launch of an inaugural awareness program and a focused workshop on opioid availability, this initiative marks a vital step towards ensuring no one, no matter how remote, suffers needlessly.
State Level Training on Palliative Care
Dr. Arjun (Senior Palliative Care Physician, Pallium India) Dr. Sreedevi (Division Head, Education & Skill Building Team, Pallium India) and Brother Sajan attended a state level training on Kerala’s Palliative Care Grid at the Directorate of Health Services, Government of Kerala. This is an encouraging step towards a more structured, community based palliative care.
Ethical and Legal Decision Making in the Terminally Ill
Dr. Arjun (Senior Palliative Care Physician, Pallium India) attended the workshop on “Ethical and Legal Decision Making in the Terminally Ill”, held as part of the 13th International Conference on Ethics Education at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore. It was a day of deep reflection—on when to do, when not to do, and how to honour dignity at the end of life. Sessions on Living Will, Advance Medical Directives, DNAR, and Proportionate Care was a reminder to know how essential it is to navigate these decisions with empathy and clarity.
As per Dr. Arjun, he came back not only with a lot of questions but with tools to answer them.
Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences (TIPS), Pallium India
| Beneficiaries reached till April 2025: | 28,441 | |
| Palliative Care centres / services catalysed: | 257 | |
| Stakeholders trained (virtual and onsite): | 11,424 |
Upcoming Events, Trainings & Conferences
What is to Become of Me?
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Reports / News / Articles
Palliative Care Awareness in Local Panchayats:
As part of our community outreach, awareness sessions on community-based, community-owned palliative care were conducted across Venganoor, Manickal, Pullampara, Karavaram, and Ottoor panchayats. These sessions targeted grassroots-level workers — ASHAs, Kudumbashree members, anganwadi staff, and local volunteers — aiming to introduce the concept of palliative care and total
pain (physical, emotional, social, and spiritual). The discussions emphasized the importance of local ownership in care, encouraging participants to identify those in need and support them with
compassion.
The response was encouraging, with many expressing interest in becoming active contributors to local care networks. These sessions are the first step toward building strong, compassionate communities that ensure no one is left to suffer alone.
Advance Medical Directives in India: From Legal Right to Practical Reality
Mehak Chopra (Regional Facilitator) writes:
In India, end-of-life decisions are not made in isolation. They are shaped by love, hope, faith, and duty. The notion of planning for one’s decline is often misunderstood as an act of giving up or losing faith. For families, initiating a conversation about an AMD (Advance Medical Directives) can feel emotionally difficult—as though acknowledging death might somehow hasten it. The idea of documenting one’s wishes in advance can feel like giving up or being disloyal to loved ones. As a result, families often avoid these conversations—until it’s too late.
But when emergencies strike without an AMD in place, families are left scrambling to make decisions under intense emotional strain. In many such cases, life-sustaining interventions are administered by default, even when they may not align with the patient’s values or wishes. The result is often prolonged suffering for the patient and lasting emotional burden for the family.
To bridge this gap, AMDs must be humanized. They should be seen not as giving up, but as an act of compassionate preparation. Embedding AMDs into routine care, such as chronic illness management or geriatric check-ups, can normalize them. These conversations are best held in calm, not crisis. Normalizing these conversations before a medical emergency allows patients and families to think clearly, share values, and make informed choices in a calm setting.
India stands at a unique moment: the law now supports a dignified end of life, but the cultural and healthcare systems are still catching up. Moving from policy to practice requires emotionally intelligent, culturally sensitive, and systemically supported frameworks.
By integrating AMDs into mainstream health care—and by treating them not as documents, but as dialogues—we can shift the narrative. One that honours autonomy, compassion, and dignity at life’s most vulnerable threshold.
Online Volunteer Training Programme (VTP)
Pallium India recently concluded another successful edition of the Online Volunteer Training Program from 28 April to 10 May 2025, bringing together 140 passionate individuals from across India. This initiative reflects Pallium India’s belief that compassionate care knows no boundaries — and volunteers are at the heart of it.
Participants from diverse walks of life — young professionals, students, homemakers, and retirees — came together with one shared goal: to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those living with serious health-related suffering.
Over a period of two weeks, the sessions covered essential themes such as:
- Introduction to Palliative care
- Understanding suffering: Physical, Emotional, Social & Spiritual
- Role of Volunteers in Palliative care
- Communication and active listening skills
The sessions were enriched by real-life stories and experiences, nurturing not just knowledge, but empathy and reflection.
This program not only equipped volunteers with essential knowledge, but also fostered a community of like-minded individuals committed to compassionate care and advocacy. Many participants expressed a strong desire to actively support Pallium India’s work — whether by joining on-ground efforts in their communities or offering virtual assistance to patients and caregivers.
Pallium India firmly believes that volunteers are the heart of palliative care, and this training program reaffirmed that belief. The enthusiasm and commitment shown by the participants proved that empathy and service can cross geographical and cultural boundaries.
As these newly trained volunteers step into the field, they carry with them not just skills, but the quiet strength to bring dignity, comfort, and hope to those who need it most.
Volunteers Training Programme (Onsite)
A volunteers training programme was conducted at Vattiyurkavu, St Paul’s Marthoma Chruch, attended 35 participants. The chief guest, Dr. MR Rajagopal, and other social officers delivered sessions on key topics, including:
• Introduction to Palliative Care
• Role of Volunteers
• Communication in Palliative Care
The programme was coordinated by Shijo Kurian Thomas, Community Social Officer at Pallium India. The objective of the training was to equip volunteers with the knowledge and skills necessary to support palliative care patients in the community.
The programme aimed to:
• Train a set of volunteers to provide support to palliative care patients
• Educate volunteers on their role in the community and how they can make a positive impact
The training programme was a successful initiative to build a network of volunteers who can provide essential support to palliative care patients and their families.
Weddings and Trends: Celebrating Love, Life & Hope
Weddings in India are often synonymous with grandeur — lights, music, lavish spreads, andendless gifts. But once in a while, a love story unfolds that quietly redefines what it means to celebrate. When Nirmohi and Harikrishnan (fondly known as Namu and Kichu) decided to tie the knot in February 2025, they didn’t just plan a wedding — they envisioned a celebration rooted in empathy, sustainability, and purpose.
Today, I want to highlight a different kind of trend—one that I’m not just observing, but actively manifesting into being.
When my elder sibling got married a decade ago, we gently requested guests to refrain from bringing gifts in the wedding invitation. Instead, we emphasized that their presence was our greatest blessing. It was a practical choice too—given that the couple lived in the U.S., transporting wedding gifts internationally would have cost them lakhs in shipping.
Their digital wedding invitation included a dedicated page for the fundraiser. Beyond hosting a sustainable celebration, the couple invited their guests to bless their union by contributing to a cause close to their hearts. The result? Dozens of children and their families affected by life-limiting conditions were given a chance to pursue education and rebuild their futures.
Their thoughtful gesture embodies the spirit of the One Health approach—where even personal celebrations acknowledge the deep interconnection between human well-being, environmental health, and community care.
To Namu and Kichu: we wish you a life of joy, partnership, and purpose. And to every couple planning their big day—may you find inspiration in their story. Let’s make conscious, compassionate weddings not just a trend, but a tradition worth carrying forward.
If you’d like to support our Children’s Education Support Programme, or explore the idea of starting a wedding fundraiser, reach out to us at donations@palliumindia.org.
Written by Shriya Singh, an advocate of the One Health concept and Head of the Resource Mobilisation Department at Pallium India.
Video of the Month
‘Dignity in Care: The Human side of Medicine’ – Part 2
Speaker: Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov
Click here to watch the video:
Subscribe to Pallium India’s youtube channel for videos related to palliative care and our activities. You can watch previous webinars and training sessions, as well as listen to caregivers, survivors and others sharing their experiences.
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Book of the Month
Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference
by Anthony Mazzarelli and Stephen Trzeciak
A 34-year-old man fighting for his life in the Intensive Care Unit is on an artificial respirator for over a month. Could it be that his chance of getting off the respirator is not how much his nurses know, but rather how much they care? A 75-year-old woman is heroically saved by a major trauma center only to be discharged and fatally struck by a car while walking home from the hospital. Could a lack of compassion from the hospital staff have been a factor in her death? Compelling new research shows that healthcare is in the midst of a compassion crisis. But the pivotal question is this: Does compassion really matter? In Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference, physician scientists Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli uncover the eye-opening data that compassion could be a wonder drug for the 21st century. Now, for the first time ever, a rigorous review of the science – coupled with captivating stories from the front lines of medicine – demonstrates that human connection in health care matters in astonishing ways. Never before has all the evidence been synthesized together in one place. You will see compelling evidence that:
- Compassion has vast benefits for patients across a wide variety of conditions
- Missed opportunities for compassion can have devastating health effects
- Compassion can help reverse the cost crisis in healthcare
- Compassion can be an antidote for burnout among healthcare providers
After seeing all the evidence, the answer is crystal clear: Compassion matters…in not only meaningful but measurable ways.
Walk with the Weary – by Dr M R Rajagopal
A masterclass in how to care for others deeply and compassionately no matter who they are, Walk with the Weary is simultaneously the story of Dr Rajagopal’s life and his calling and the world of Indian palliative care.
Palliative Care Telehealth
Call us: +91 964 588 4889 /
+91 860 688 4889
PARTING SHOT
A Renewed Purpose: My Journey with Pallium India
How does a corporate lawyer in training find themselves in the social sector, advocating for palliative care and improved access to opioids for medical use? For starters, a global lockdown, courtesy of COVID-19, helps. Add a random opportunity—a place in a fellowship program at a “palliative care NGO” run by an absolutely enigmatic group of people—and my interest was piqued.
In late October 2020, I (virtually) walked into a meeting with the founder of Pallium India, Dr. M.R. Rajagopal. I was nervous because a quick Google search had referred to him as the “Father of Palliative Care in India.” I had only just begun to understand what palliative care was from that same search, and here I was about to meet its pioneer. But as anyone who has had the opportunity to interact with Dr. Raj would vouch, I had no reason to be nervous. The good doctor instantly puts you at ease with his calm demeanour and lovely smile.
I paint this picture to convey the tone that Pallium India set for me from the very beginning. I would soon meet other team members who shared Dr. Raj’s infectious passion for delivering care in a world that often seems interested only in curing. We discussed pain, death, the unfortunate state of the law, and access to healthcare in our country. As a recent law school graduate, young and confused, I was fully subscribed to the cause.
Four and a half years later, life has taken me on other journeys, and I have landed at university once again in pursuit of a Master’s in Development. Though I had left Pallium India some time ago, the cause was always at the back of my mind – a driving factor in my growing interest in policy and public health. A chance internship opportunity brought me back to Pallium this year. After spending the last 45 days with them in Trivandrum, my resolve has only strengthened.
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