The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Palliative care `needs community support'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 03, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Palliative care `needs community support'

Staff Reporter

Healthcare professionals could be roped in: expert

CHENNAI : The fourth edition of the Chennai Association of Palliative Care's foundation courses will be held from November 20 to 25, where training will be offered to doctors, nurses and volunteers and send out the message that palliative care (pain management treatment) is necessary not only in cities but also in villages.

The association, along with other non-government organisations, aims to promote and develop a sustainable network of palliative care centres in the state through its training courses. An important aspect is to make available essential low cost medicines to control pain and other symptoms. The association is working to include palliative care in the basic and postgraduate medical and nursing curriculum.

Mallika Thiruvadanan, president of the Association, said: "To experience physical pain is bad. Unrelieved pain has a devastating sequence of effects like aversion to food, reduced intake, inability to function normally, disinterest in life and disruption in relationships. This can ultimately lead to loss of a normal social life, depersonalisation of the individual and not uncommonly even to suicidal tendencies. The family suffers equally."

"Our basic medical curriculum does not focus on training in the medical management of pain and other symptoms occurring in advanced disease. We lack training in communication skills, so essential to address a patient's total suffering" the expert said.

The principles of palliative care apply throughout the cancer illness. Those who still wish to practice this care (along with their existing specialty) can do so after a basic training in palliative care.

The second `World Hospice and Palliative Care Day' observed on October 7 spread the message that the more than 8 million people in India who suffer from chronic illnesses such as cancer, HIV-AIDS, end-stage heart, kidney and lung diseases need palliative care.

For more information, contact chennai_pain@yahoo.co.in Tel: 42602448, 26412099.

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