Barely 4% of Indians have access to palliative care
On the eve of World Palliative Day, palliative care experts have drawn attention to "passive violence" implicit in the dismal access that Indians have to basic pain relief. Forty years after palliative care came to India, it is estimated that barely 4% of citizens have access, reports Rema Nagarajan.Dr MR Rajagopal, founder chairman of Pallium India, a non-governmental organisation working on improving access to palliative care in India, told TOI, "84% of the world has negligible access to palliative care. Low- and middle-income countries use only 6% of global opioids for pain relief. Guidelines designed for the Global North have failed 84% of the world's population. We need a palliative care strategy specifically for the Global South."The theme of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, observed on October 11, is "Achieving the Promise - Universal Access to Palliative Care". By 2030, the world envisioned universal health coverage - including palliative care -for all."It's rather obvious we're nowhere near that promise. But if we're to achieve it at any point in the visible future, we need realistic plans. Low- and middle-income countries use only 6% of global opioids for pain relief. Is this not passive violence by our healthcare systems? Add the active violence of catastrophic health expenditure and the menace of inappropriate end-of-life care that inflicts suffering," said Rajagopal, hailed as the father of palliative care in India. |
