The petition followed a tragic event in June last year. A young couple killed their son and then themselves after his suffering became too much for them to bear.
Pallium India said: “Will someone stop to think: why was the child in unrelieved pain? Did he have access to pain relief? Was the child offered palliative care? Did the place have access to oral morphine which is in India’s essential medicine list?”
Following this event, Pallium India approached the Kerala Human Rights Commission with some specific requests to address the situation.
The Commision’s report has just been released and points out the Kerala state palliative care policy which stipulates: “Each district must have a tertiary level pain and palliative care service with a trained doctor and staff nurse either in a medical college or in a district hospital. They should have specialist and in-patient palliative care services.”
According to Pallium India: “The commission asks the Government to ensure that every district should have at least one hospital with a palliative care centre with a doctor trained in palliative care. It also asks the government to make use of the services of the non-government organizations for this purpose.
“The commission’s order also asks private hospitals with more than 20 inpatient beds to have at least one doctor with a minimum of ten days training in pain management and to make essential medicines like morphine available.”
Read more on the Pallium India website.
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