In rural areas where health care itself is not accessible for many, the government has been focusing on extending palliative care centres to ensure that patients suffering with terminal illness can have some relief.
After successful running of a palliative care centre at Chevella in Ranga Reddy district it was decided to extend these services to other districts as well.
The services will be extended not only at the hospital but also at the doorstep of the patient.
The constituency headquarters being represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao will have a palliative care centre in the government hospital.
Similar facilities are to come up in Choutuppal and Mahabubnagar centres.
The Gajwel centre will be 10- bedded with eight beds for general and two beds for patients suffering with serious infections.
Successful initiative
Four more centres — Adilabad, Khammam, Warangal and Kamareddy — will also be covered in the first phase followed by eight more centres in the second phase under which Sangareddy will be covered.
‘Pain Relief and Palliative Care Society,’ a Hyderabad-based NGO, would run these centres. The society was established in 2007 and has initiated its activities in Chevella.
They are providing services in 51 villages in Chevella mandal and this is one of the upcoming care and support system for the patients suffering from incurable health problems like cancer, HIV/ AIDS, stroke, end-stage pulmonary and kidney problems and their families taking the burden.
In all these cases there is no cure and the patient is suffering with chronic health problems.
Palliative care unit aims at the reducing the pain and suffering and tries to address the symptoms associated with the problem to make life comfortable as a long as the patient survives. The patients are enabled to live with dignity and quality of life till the end, medical supervisor and head of the organisation Gayatri Palat said.
Doorstep service
The society has been closely associated with MNJ Cancer Hospital, the only nodal cancer hospital in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
“We are offering service for the patients at outpatient, home care, a hospice centre at Kukatpally with 22-bed hospital facility, paediatric palliative care like others and rural outreach,” one of the founder members of the society Priya told The Hindu .
As many as five vans with a team of driver, doctors, nurse and counsellor were put in service and one of them was totally dedicated to children.
“Paediatric palliative care programme, is one of its kind in India. From the beginning we will take care of the children who were admitted for treatment and we make sure that they will not have pain.
“We are also conducting rural outreach programme and commenced the programme in Damaragidda village and spread it to 51 villages falling in Chevella mandal,” Dr. Priya said.
