The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Palliative care meet from February 10

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 08, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Palliative care meet from February 10

Special Correspondent

It will have lectures, workshops, panel discussions and continuing medical education programmes

CHENNAI : Palliative medicine is not an area which patients are introduced to only after all their treatment modalities are exhausted and declared "no more treatment is possible."

Instead, it should be well integrated into the whole health care system and mainstream medicine, palliative care experts argue. .

Palliative care has traditionally concentrated on the last few days of life, a time when pain and other symptoms and psychosocial distress are often prominent and difficult to control. But palliative care-givers have found that it becomes too difficult to give relief when effective communication has been lacking from the beginning and patients and their families are abruptly told, "we can't do anything more, you now need palliative care."

Studies have shown that poorly handled transfer of information and recognition of anxiety at the time of diagnosis leads to increased problems later. If not treated early, pain relief requires much larger doses of drugs, an expert says.

Cancer centres which believe in the philosophy of palliative care will be more likely to prevent long-term patient distress by integrating palliative care earlier in the course of the illness. They have also identified an impending need to develop palliative care in our country, as there are more than a million patients diagnosed with cancer every year and more than 70 per cent of them are in the advanced stage on first contact with doctor.

There are three essential factors in the development of palliative care: availability of oral morphine, narcotics policy and education.

Members of the Chennai Association of Palliative Care (CAPC) have attested that with reference to availability of morphine, existence of favourable policies, the situation is good in Tamil Nadu, thanks to support from the Government. However, more work needs to be done in training and education.

It is in order to spread awareness that the Chennai Association of Palliative Care (CAPC) formed in 2001, is conducting the 13th International Conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care on February 10, 11 and 12 at Hotel Savera.

The theme is `Pain and Beyond' — meaning suffering is not just physical.

The conference consists of lectures, workshops and brainstorming panel discussions and continuing medical education programmes on February 9, one exclusively for nurses and one for all doctors who are interested to inculcate this care in their day-to-day practice.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail