The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Community participation in palliative care need of the hour, say experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Community participation in palliative care need of the hour, say experts

Staff Reporter

Role of volunteers is to facilitate patients to exercise their own options
“Private hospitals also do not have adequate provisions for palliative care”

CHENNAI: Only two per cent of terminally ill patients in India have access to quality palliative care. Hence community participation in palliative care and volunteer networking is the need of the hour, according to palliative care experts.

With 1.5 million new cancer cases and six million cases of other chronic diseases reported every year, palliative care has increasingly gained importance. “We want volunteers,” said Mallika Tiruvadanan, a palliative care expert, at a volunteers’ workshop on palliative care organised here on Saturday by the Chennai Association of Palliative Care.

The World Health Organisation defines palliative care as “the active total care of patients whose disease is not responsive to curative treatment.”

“Palliative care, a new form of medicine, involves active treatment of pain. However it is different from usual medical treatment. It affirms life and regards dying as a normal process. It makes the life of a patient as active and creative as possible,” said Subathra Muthukumaran. “Palliative care is very developed in some foreign countries. The focus is on quality of life of the person and the patient’s wish is of utmost importance. It is a balance of science and compassion,” said Dr. Mallika. She added: “We have a social responsibility towards the well being of terminally ill patients and are trying to revive the human element in medical practice.”

The volunteers create awareness and coordinate with non-governmental organisations. A volunteer spends around four hours a week with the patients, said Republica Sridhar. The role of volunteers is to facilitate the patients to exercise their own options. Private hospitals also do not have adequate provisions for palliative care. Many doctors themselves are having inhibitions.

“Palliative care involves physical, emotional, and social support to the patients,” says Nithya Kalyani, founder of Atma Sanjivini. The social implications of suffering from a chronic life limiting disease involve isolation from society, loss of job, loss of position, and unfinished business, she said. The Chennai association of Palliative Care has volunteers from Satyam Foundation, Lions Club of Chennai Prime, RMD Pain Palliative Trust, Lakshmi Pain Palliative Trust, and Atma Sanjivini Foundation.

The doctor-patient barrier is still hard to scale for a patient — the reason being the inability of doctors to have a good social and psychological relationship with the patient. Increasing commercialisation of healthcare and some doctors ignoring social realities are to be blamed for the strengthening of the barrier, said Dr. Republica.

According to Dr. Mallika, the M.B.B.S course in Tamil Nadu does not include palliative care in its curriculum. This may be one of the reasons why many young doctors are unable to understand the importance of palliative care.

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

Tamil Nadu