Delhi Needs a Palliative Care Policy to Ease Suffering and Financial Strain, Experts Say
NEW DELHI – Health experts are urging Delhi policymakers to implement a dedicated state Palliative Care Policy, citing its potential to both improve healthcare quality and reduce financial burdens on patients and their families. Palliative care focuses on alleviating teh physical, emotional, social, and spiritual distress experienced by individuals with chronic, life-limiting illnesses, as well as supporting their caregivers.
According to Dr. Parth Sharma of the Department of community Medicine at maulana Azad Medical College, a formal policy would be transformative. “A palliative care policy in Delhi would allow for better allocation of resources, integration of currently separate healthcare services, and consistent funding,” he explained. He envisions Delhi becoming a leader in this area, stating, “Creating a regional policy would make Delhi the first in North India to have such a framework, and could serve as a model for urban palliative care programs worldwide.”
This call for policy change is backed by recent research led by Dr. Sharma and colleagues. The study, which screened over 43,000 residents in Delhi’s urban resettlement colonies, revealed a notable unmet need for home-based palliative care. The research indicated that 2 out of every 1,000 people surveyed required such services.
The study participants needing palliative care were overwhelmingly elderly males (60%), and a substantial proportion faced socio-economic challenges – over half (51.11%) were illiterate and more than half (55.56%) were previously unemployed. Neurological conditions, notably stroke (67.8%), were identified as the primary cause of disability requiring care.
The impact of chronic illness on families was also stark. Nearly half (49%) of participants demonstrated severe dependence on others, while a majority of families (62.22%) reported a diminished quality of life. Alarmingly, over a third (34.44%) of families had accumulated debt due to the costs associated with illness.
These findings underscore the urgent need for a complete palliative care policy in delhi to ensure accessible, affordable, and quality care for those who need it most.
