Mangalore

Palliative care goes much beyond making pain relief drugs such as morphine easily available. What needs to be in place for palliative care to be effective is a good support system. It also needs a strong and vibrant primary health system.

One of the major problems medical professionals face in the Indian context is the lack of understanding of the issue. Many a time when a diagnosis with a poor prognosis is made, a lot of resources and energy is spent on running from one doctor to another, or from one system of medicine to another in search of a cure. By the time the truth sinks in, the patient is already much traumatised and in the last moments of his life.

Palliative care warrants strong emotional and financial support from the family, social support from the community towards the family as a whole, and professionally well-qualified counsellors and social workers. Easy availability of morphine in the absence of adequate social networks and support systems would hardly be of any benefit.

Jeevan Kuruvilla,

Vellore

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