Palliative Care

It is impossible to imagine, but there are at any one time at least 2 million people suffering in agony from terminal illnesses (such as cancer and AIDS) without effective pain relief in India today. Expensive treatments, freely available in the West, are often not an option for a patient from a poor family in India.

India is the world’s largest grower of medicinal poppy for developed countries, yet there are severe restrictions to the use of morphine domestically. The barriers to accessing effective pain relief include poor infrastructure, poverty, and in particular, the fear that opioid availability will lead to drug abuse. In 27 out of 28 states in India, narcotics laws are so strict that doctors fear prescribing opioids. As a result, patients are dying in excruciating pain.

The Savitri Trust is seeking to address this dehumanizing situation. Whilst the major obstacles are within the government infrastructure, the Trust supports the efforts being taken today to give access to painkilling drugs and providing emotional support for those with terminal illnesses.

Palliative care is a combination of pain and symptom relief, social and emotional support for patients and their families and care takers. It means being interested in the person as well as in their diagnosis and skillfully using medications so that the patient can enjoy the rest of their lives without debilitating pain.