State Palliative Care Policy can help enhance healthcare, cut costs for patients in Delhi: Experts

New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) Having a state Palliative Care Policy is crucial to strengthen healthcare and also reduce costs for patients in Delhi, according to a health experts on Friday.

Palliative care is a branch of medicine that aims to prevent and relieve the physical, social, and spiritual suffering of patients suffering from chronic life-limiting illnesses and their caregivers.

“A palliative care policy in Delhi can streamline resources, integrate fragmented health systems, and ensure systematic funding,” Parth Sharma, Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, told IANS.

“I request the policymakers of Delhi to consider creating a regional policy. This will make Delhi the first region in North India to have its own palliative care policy. It will also help in creating a model of care for urban areas that could be replicated globally,” Sharma added.

A recent study, led by Sharma and other researchers from the varsity,

highlighted the significant need for home-based palliative care in urban areas and the financial hardship families face.

The team screened 43,267 people in Delhi’s urban resettlement colonies to assess home-based palliative care needs and the impact of chronic illness on families.

The results showed that 2 per 1000 people required home-based palliative care.

The majority were elderly males (60 per cent), with 51.11 per cent illiterate and 55.56 per cent previously unemployed. Neurological disorders, primarily stroke (67.8 per cent), were the leading cause of disability.

While severe dependence was seen in nearly 49 per cent of participants, 62.22 per cent of families reported a negative quality of life, and 34.44 per cent incurred debt due to illness.

About 74 per cent had ration cards, 50 per cent received pensions, and only 15.56 per cent had public health insurance.

The mean out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure was 58.56 per cent of their per capita income and 11.11 per cent of their total family income, revealed the findings published in the journal Palliative Care and Social Practice.

Meanwhile, the study noted that the social consequences extended beyond finances: with 42 per cent reporting a deterioration in diet, 42 per cent stopping celebrating festivals and family events, 31 per cent seeing their caregivers’ jobs being affected, and 14 per cent reporting interruption in education. One family also reported a suicide attempt.

“With an estimated 60-80k people needing home care in Delhi, collaboration between public health centres, medical colleges, civil society, and government is vital. Currently, only civil society provides care; government engagement can bridge critical gaps,” the expert told IANS.

"Palliative Care being a basic human right, equitable care can only be ensured through Government machinery with a definite declared Palliative Care Policy in place," KV Hamza, General Secretary, DNipCare (Delhiites' National Initiative in Palliative Care).

Hamza, an ex-official at the Ministry of Finance, noted that while NGOs and the private health sector can make a lot of headway, reaching out to the last patient, who is an urban poor, standing in the remotest corner of the cosmopolitan city, can be facilitated under the government guidelines only.

Sharma also suggested expanding home-based palliative care via the National Programme for Palliative Care and engaging medical colleges in community-level palliative care. Expanding government insurance for outpatient medicines can also help.

--IANS

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