About PALCARE – The Jimmy’s Bilimoria Foundation

The Jimmy S Bilimoria and its PALCARE service was founded in the year 2015. Born from a deep personal loss, the founder, was determined to ensure that others, too, don’t go through the same suffering that her husband underwent a few years earlier.

Her resolve to provide an exceptional quality of home-based palliative care, at no charge, particularly to cancer patients from low-income groups, underscores an important gap in healthcare services in India— accessible care for patients in the comfort of their own homes.

PALCARE secured support from influential figures like the late Mr. Ratan Tata and the Tata Trusts, Mr Anand Mahindra and Mahindra Foundation, Mr. M K Hamied and the Cipla Foundation, which helped the organization become a reality.

The involvement of respected figures on its Board of Trustees and Advisory Board also reinforces the credibility and vision of the organization. These connections, along with their partnerships with international palliative care experts, allow PALCARE to maintain high standards and implement comprehensive guidelines to ensure world-class care.

 

 Eben with Patient

 Dr Shaziya with Patient

 Richa with Patient’s wife

 

 Jay with Patient

 

How PALCARE works:
• The service extends across the length and breadth of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region – covering 6,328 square kilometers and 26 million residents, which has been segregated into seven zones, with each zone managed by a multidisciplinary team of one doctor, two nurses and a counsellor.
• The teams are guided by the Advisory Board of palliative care experts, and trained by experts and institutions such as Tata Memorial Hospital’s Pain and Palliative Care department, Pallium India in Kerala, Karunashreya in Bangalore, CanSupport in New Delhi.
• Patients are referred to PALCARE from leading hospitals and onco-specialists. Referrals also come from past patient’s families, word of mouth, and social media.
• When a referral comes in, the team for the zone in which the patient resides, springs into action and takes an appointment for the enrolment visit – ideally within 24 hours from receiving the referral.
• The Enrolment, which is most often over 2 hours, is for history taking, understanding the patient’s past and current symptoms, needs, planning the goals of care (i.e. the patient’s desire for end of life at home, hospice or hospital), working with the family so that all members are aligned to the patient’s wishes, and importantly, building a bond of confidence between patient and family with the PALCARE team.
• The Doctor sets the care plan for reducing pain and other symptoms, and monitors the patient’s condition, tweaking the plan as and when required.1

The Nurses follow up with regular visits and phone calls to ensure that the protocol is on track, address nursing issues and they also train the caregivers on best management of the patient.

• The Counsellor, a clinical psychologist, addresses the psychosocial needs of the patient – and the patient’s family.
• Frequency of visits depends on the patient’s condition. High Priority patients receive a weekly visit; Medium Priority patients are provided fortnightly visits, and all others who fall into the Low Priority category are visited every three to four weeks. In between the physical visits are several phone calls, to check up on the patient.
• PALCARE prescribes the medications that are needed for the relief of the symptoms. For the poor, these medications are provided for free.

In conclusion:
• The work PALCARE does is crucial, especially in a country like India, where access to quality palliative care is limited.
• With a strong leadership team, expert guidance and 39 specially crafted guidelines for symptom management in a home setting, particularly in a metropolis like Mumbai, have set benchmarks for similar institutions focused on compassionate care.
• Annually PALCARE looks after 750 to 800 patients, and from inception in December 2015 to mid-March 2025, PALCARE has enrolled more than 3700 patients.
• Approximately 85% of PALCARE’s patients die at home, peacefully. This high home death rate is attributed to the fact that the service takes great care to train and empower the family and main caregiver to manage the patient at end of life, so that the family does not need to panic and rush to a hospital.
• Anticipatory medications are left at the home, and the Palcare team helps through the process with video calls.
For further information please visit www.palcareindia.com or write to us at contact palcareindia@gmail.com.

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Lead photo caption: Dr. Pranjal & Kaizen with Patient Lata, Feb. 2025

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