Barely 4% of Indians have access to palliative care

On the eve of World Palliative Day , palliative care experts have drawn attention to "passive violence" implicit in the dismal access that Indians have to basic pain relief . Forty years after palliative care came to India, it is estimated that barely 4% of citizens have access, reports Rema Nagarajan .

Dr MR Rajagopal, founder chairman of Pallium India , a non-governmental organisation working on improving access to palliative care in India, told TOI , "84% of the world has negligible access to palliative care. Low- and middle-income countries use only 6% of global opioids for pain relief. Guidelines designed for the Global North have failed 84% of the world's population. We need a palliative care strategy specifically for the Global South ."

The theme of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day , observed on October 11, is "Achieving the Promise - Universal Access to Palliative Care". By 2030, the world envisioned universal health coverage - including palliative care -for all.

"It's rather obvious we're nowhere near that promise. But if we're to achieve it at any point in the visible future, we need realistic plans. Low- and middle-income countries use only 6% of global opioids for pain relief. Is this not passive violence by our healthcare systems? Add the active violence of catastrophic health expenditure and the menace of inappropriate end-of-life care that inflicts suffering," said Rajagopal, hailed as the father of palliative care in India.