Pallium India, an NGO which has pioneered the palliative care movement in the country, has urged the government to implement the amendments to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, so that the availability of strong pain medicines for the needy can be improved.
On February 21, 2014, Parliament approved the amendments to the NDPS Act to eliminate the archaic rules that had severely impeded access to strong pain medicines, like morphine, for the millions of patients suffering from the pain of chronic and debilitating illnesses, including cancer. However, almost a year later, the government is yet to issue any directives to the State governments regarding the implementation of these changes.
“The law has changed but every day millions of patients continue to live and die in pain. “The amendment must be implemented without anymore delay,” chairman of Pallium India M.R. Rajagopal said in a statement here on Monday.
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Under the law, the Union government must prepare a list of essential pain medicines and provide State governments with a new standard licensing procedure. These documents, however, had been stuck in procedural tangles since the past one year, he said.
The results of a study on cancer pain at the Regional Cancer Centres in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa, and West Bengal underscored the urgency of the implementation of the amendments right away. The study found that more than one-third of new patients at these centres suffered from severe pain and that less than one per cent had received adequate pain treatment, Dr. Rajagopal pointed out.
The study was conducted in 2012-13 and covered 1,707 patients, including 848 new patients.
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The findings of the study will be presented this week at the conference of the Indian Association of Palliative Care in Hyderabad.
The World Health Organisation and the Indian government consider morphine an essential medicine for the treatment of strong pain
Parliament approved amendments on February 21 last year
No directive yet to States to implement amendments
Pallium India seeks implementation of NDPS Act amendments.