Published on: October 14, 2014

A report in The Times of India dated October 11 says:

A multi-centric study initiated by the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences –including Lucknow as a centre — revealed that seven out of 10 doctors dealing with terminally ill patients were not aware of hospice and palliative care. And so, they were not referring their patients for end-of-life care options. However, in western countries, as soon as a person is diagnosed with a life-limiting disease, the patient is attached with a hospice.

(Read the complete article: End-of-life care facility in UP soon, but no policy yet )

The fact that 70% of doctors are not aware of this in North India does not come as a surprise to us. This is the big task before us; to improve awareness. The question remains: what is the perception of the other 3 out of every 10, who are aware of palliative care? How close is their understanding to the reality? Much too often, there are major misconceptions.