Dr. M.R. Rajagopal, founder of Pallium India.
| Photo Credit: R. RAVINDRAN
With the National Health Policy including palliative care in the curriculum of MBBS and Nursing programmes, it will be taught to all students and integrated into healthcare. But it also requires volunteers from the community to take it forward, said M.R. Rajagopal, founder of Pallium India, a non-government organisation in Kerala that provides pain relief and palliative care for free.
At the second edition of the Keshav Desiraju Memorial Lecture organised by Cognizant Foundation and The Banyan’s Partnership for the Mental Health Sector here on Friday, Dr. Rajagopal said currently only 4% of people who required palliative care received it.
According to him, at least 10 million Indians require palliative care. “A clinician must acknowledge a patient’s emotional, social suffering. I deserve to have my suffering treated,” he said, insisting that it is imperative to take healthcare to the person’s doorstep.
He cited a study from 2015 which stated that catastrophic health expenses pushed 55 million people in India below poverty line. “India is one of the 12 worst countries with catastrophic health expenses,” he pointed out. The country relied on western data and information to plan palliative care, but it is woefully inadequate, he argued.
What the pain patients often complain about is just the tip of the iceberg. There are other associated issues such as social, emotional, spiritual and general well-being that a doctor cannot resolve. Volunteers, psychologists, social workers could all step in and fill the need, he explained.
Earlier Soumya Swaminathan, chairperson of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation recalled her association with Dr. Rajagopal, and said people who have seen their family suffer from an illness would appreciate the need for palliative care.
Palliative care that is owned by the community and offers psychosocial support will make a difference to the suffering patients and their families, she said. The concept of wellness and well-being needs to change, she said, adding that as doctors they had not been taught the importance of palliative care or psychosocial support for patients.
