State first in Govt involvement in palliative care
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 28 2024: Manipur is the first State in India in terms of involvement of the Government in providing palliative care to patients at home.

After the National Programme for Palliative Care was launched in 2012, the State Palliative Care Cell was opened in October 2017 and the cell started providing palliative care to patients at their homes from January 2018 .

Acknowledging the works of the State Palliative Care Cell and the Government's active involvement in providing palliative care at the homes of patients, the Best Practice Award for Community-Home Based Palliative Care was given to Manipur at the 6th National Summit on Good and Replicable Practice held at Gandhinagar in 2019 .

Even the World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the Manipur model of palliative care for introduction in different places across the world.

State first in Govt involvement in palliative care

Palliative Care Society Imphal vice-president Dr S Jugindra said that the quality of life led by citizens till his/her last breath is one of the key parameters for determining development of a country.

Although death is an inescapable part of life, no one knows how one would die.

As one's longevity increases, chances of living with chronic medical problems also rise, Dr Jugindra said.

All men and women want to die without any pain or suffering but only 10 to 15 per cent die accidentally without any pain.

The rest 85 per cent die after enduring pain and suffering a lot, he said.

Palliative care is basically about reducing the pain and improving the quality of life of people with serious illnesses or waiting for death.

Around 85 per cent of all men and women will one day need palliative care, Dr Jugindra said.

State Palliative Cell's State Nodal Officer Dr L Tilakeswari told The Sangai Express that there are more than 2500 people who are being provided palliative care at home under the State Palliative Cell.

Saying that they visit the palliative patients on monthly or weekly basis or randomly when palliative care is needed, Dr Tilakeswari pointed out that taking a bed-ridden patient to a hospital is a big problem and so is nursing a bed-ridden patient at home.

If people who would take care of such patients are trained and palliative care personnel visit them regularly, the problem can be moderated to a great extent, she said.

She said that the State Palliative Care Cell can function smoothly and meaningfully only because of the cooperation of the families of patients who need palliative care and the general public.

There were instances when palliative care personnel were insulted or given cold shoulder by families of palliative patients due to misunderstanding or communication gaps, she said.

She asserted that palliative care service is a humanitarian service and the palliative care personnel are working with dedication to reduce the suffering of people with serious illnesses.

Informing that palliative care wards with 10 beds each have been opened in seven district hospitals of the State as well as at Wangoi CHC, Dr Tilakeswari said that more than 380 doctors, 389 Community Health Officers and 45 ANMs have been trained for palliative care.

Each Health and Wellness Centre covers 5000 people on the average and Community Health Officers of these centres have been taking key roles in providing palliative care, she said.

With palliative care now covered by the Chief Minister's Health for All (CMHA), doctors, nurses and ASHAs have been searching for people who need palliative care, she said.

As it would be extremely difficult for palliative care personnel to take care of palliative patients every day, they usually give training to family members on how to take care of the palliative patients including bathing, combing, changing position on bed etc, she continued.

She appealed to students, volunteers and the general public to support the State Palliative Cell.

The greater the number of volunteers, the more successful will be palliative service and it will enable all to live quality life till his/her last breath, the State Nodal Officer said.

She said that the State Palliative Cell is always ready to train volunteers on palliative care.

Palliative Care Society, Imphal vice president Dr S Jugindra said that 400 in every one lakh people need palliative care.

In Manipur which has a total population of around 30 lakh, there are around 12,000 people who need palliative care.

"If we can introduce a system of helping people suffering from serious illnesses who are bed-ridden, we can leave behind a tradition of helping sick and invalid people, and this will enable every one in Manipur to live quality life till his/her last breath", he said.

After its establishment on April 15, 2015, the Palliative Care Society, Imphal started providing palliative care to patients at their own homes from August 2 same year.

So far, the society has provided palliative care to more than 239 people.

If any one needs palliative care, they may call mobile numbers 7005833323, 7005115381 or 9862691974, he said.

One family member of a palliative patient who has received palliative care from the State Palliative Care Cell said that their problem of taking care of the patient constantly has been solved to a great extent after they came in contact with the cell.

The State Palliative Care Cell's service and the Government's support is indeed a heavenly help, the family member said.

"Although I cannot stand up, I'm extremely grateful to the Palliative Care Society, Imphal for their service and I feel like I'm in heaven," said one palliative patient who cannot stand on his feet.