NEW DELHI: As many as 98 out of every 100 patients with stage-4 cancer are unable to get palliative care in India, said a study, noting that this is despite a national programme on palliative care, which was launched in 2012.The findings of the study, published in the British Medical Journal, underscore the pressing need to address barriers to accessing palliative care services in India, particularly for those in advanced stages of cancer. It pointed out that the country’s National Program for Palliative Care needs to be more effectively implemented.Currently, only Kerala has successfully implemented palliative care, which is designed to provide care from primary to tertiary health facilities.“In our study, we found that in patients with stage-4 cancer, 98.3%, which translates to 98 out of every 100 patients with stage-4 cancer, did not receive palliative care. This is serious as this means that the patients experienced avoidable suffering,” said Dr Parth Sharma, the study’s co-author. Sharma is a researcher at Association for Socially Applicable Research, a think-tank that primarily aims to create and communicate evidence for informing policies as well as influencing meaningful public discourse.“Palliative care is a branch of medicine that addresses suffering related to any disease. Specifically in patients with cancer, early initiation of palliative care has been shown to improve the disease outcome and quality of life,” Dr Sharma told this paper.
Source link
