Palliative care volunteers from different parts of the State participated in discussions on training programmes in palliative treatment and nurses' home care on the first day of their two-day meet here on Saturday under the auspices of the State unit of the Indian Palliative Care Association (IPCA).
The meet held on the Krishna Menon Memorial Government Women's College campus here was attended by nearly 700 palliative care volunteers from all the districts. District co-ordinators of over 200 IPCA units presented reports of the activities of their respective districts. Classes were also conducted on various aspects of palliative care and home care.
Inaugurating the meet, Devaswom Minister Ramachandran Kadannappally said that palliative care givers were rendering yeomen service. He said that the State government had decided to extend financial
assistance to help the palliative care system through local bodies. He also called upon non-governmental organisations to take initiative for launching more social service activities.
Health Minister P.K. Sreemathi, in her address in the afternoon session of the meet, said that the government had decided to increase the relief pension amount being given to chronically sick and
bed-ridden people undergoing follow-up treatment. Income ceiling fixed for granting the relief pension would be raised, she said. The government had also conceived a plan for assisting the palliative care
system by bringing it under the National Rural Health Mission. An amount of Rs. 5 crore had been set apart for this, she added.
Inaugural session was attended by IPCA State chairman E. Sasiraj, Crime Branch Superintendent of Police in Kozhikode T.M. Aboobacker, IPCA general secretary K.P. Raveendran, Palliative Initiative Kannur
general secretary K .P. Raveendran. PIK office-bearers Latheesh Kumar, P. Narayanan and P. Mohandas spoke at the function.
Classes on various aspects of palliative care and nurses' home care were conducted by Sheeba Mathew, Neetha Vijayan, Reetha Devi and Shaji Manheri.
