Published on: May 27, 2020

Health care providers cannot shut down services. It is simply unacceptable. As unacceptable as soldiers deserting their posts or the police refusing to work.

In the context of COVID-19, nevertheless, the needs of the patients have to be balanced with the safety of palliative care providers. Services need to be continued with all the measures taken to protect the personnel.

However, sometimes, the administration is in doubt. Where is that thin line between the two? How much care can be given with how much of protection?

For our Trivandrum unit, Pallium India has created an Advisory Committee for Applied Ethics, with members who have the expertise and integrity, and who are not directly involved in the care delivery system:

Sri S. M. Vijayanand IAS, former Chief Secretary of the Govt of Kerala and the person who really integrated palliative care within local self government institutions (LSGI), when he was principal secretary of LSG
Dr V. Ramankutty, Former professor of public health and former professor of Sri Achyutha Menon centre at SCTIMST, Trivandrum
Dr P. S. Shareek, Consultant in Infectious Diseases and Head of Infection Control, S U T Hospital, Pattom

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