It is a squad armed with a social spirit, and an urge to care for the sick. Its members belong not to a public health agency, but to the Kerala Armed Police Battalion IV, stationed at Mangattuparamba here.
Their training helps them handle difficult law and order situations but here, they must go gentle and lend a helping hand to patients who need support and treatment.
The personnel offer palliative care to more than 200 patients, including those who are terminally ill, on a regular basis. They also teach caregivers the scientific way to support such patients.
The spare time the personnel find is devoted to the humanitarian initiative, and they are aided by a medical team and a group of local volunteers.
Ending seclusion
The Mythri Pain and Palliative Society (MPPS) is the initiative of the battalion personnel. With the support system of the police force, it has offered palliative care to over 1,300 patients since its inception in 2008.
“With the MPPS initiative, we have come across many cases in which patients, including those from rich families, are almost locked up in segregated rooms, and with our intervention the volunteers could start treatment,” said battalion Commandant K. Sanjay Kumar Gurudin, who has served as District Police Chief here in the past.
The Society also provides assistance to members of the patients’ families, he said, noting that the biggest change the volunteers noticed was in their attitude towards the patients.
The initiative has helped police personnel get sensitised to people’s pain and suffering, and the experience enables the public to also see the force in a different light.
“The MPPS is one of the best palliative care units in the district,” said P. Vijayan, medical officer of the Society and district chairman of the Palliative Care Initiative, Kannur.
Cancer camps held
The effort is part of the Jana Maithri Scheme of the police. The MPPS recently conducted cancer detection camps at Pattuvam and Peravur.
Studies on Kerala’s efforts to provide cancer care show that its palliative care centres are more widely distributed than in other States, and not confined to the bigger cities or cancer centres. The State’s network is described as one of the largest in the world.
