Last month, newspapers across Kerala reported how a couple killed their nine-year-old son, who had been admitted to the hospital, before taking their own lives because they were unable to tolerate their son’s unbearable, unrelieved pain.
According to Pallium India this news “points to a huge violation of human rights that exists in our healthcare system.”
While morphine is included in the National List of Essential Medicines, many hospitals in Kerala do not have morphine or doctors trained in palliative care, and patients are denied pain relief.
Pallium India has filed a petition with the Kerala Human Rights Commission to bring attention to this issue with the hope that the Commission will take action by giving instructions to all medical institutions in the state to provide palliative care with adequate stock of morphine and allied opioids.
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