Palliative Care - An Indian Perspective

Palliative care in India is a relatively new concept; developed over the past 30 years, compared to 50 years in the developed nations. The Government of India initiated a National Cancer Control Programme to make pain relief one of the basic services to be provided at the primary health care level. Kerala is often cited as a 'beacon of hope'contributing to two-thirds of India's Palliative care services, being the home of only 3% of India's population of 1.2 billion. Since 2008, there has been a formal palliative care policy in place within the Kerala state government providing funding for community based programs. It was also one of the first states in India to make the narcotics regulations more flexible to permit use of morphine by Palliative Care providers. The Palliative Care Center in Calicut, Kerala, has become a WHO demonstration project serving as an example of low cost and high quality Palliative Care delivery in the developing world based on cooperation between government, non-government organisations and the community.