India is home to nearly 20% of the world’s population, two-thirds of which reside in rural areas. Apart from a rising population, India has experienced a steep rise in the burden of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases. Nearly 1.4 million people are diagnosed with cancer in India every year while diabetes, hypertension, and respiratory diseases are also on the rise. All these diseases need palliative care sooner or later in the disease trajectory.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is the branch of medicine focusing on improving the quality of life and preventing suffering among those with life-limiting illnesses. It aims to identify patients at risk of over-medicalisation at the expense of quality of life and financial burden on the family. It is often misinterpreted as end-of-life care. However, palliative care aims to improve the quality of life by addressing the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social domains of the health of people suffering from life-limiting diseases like heart failure, kidney failure, certain neurological diseases, cancer, etc.
