Cancer Awareness: Palliative care is being dropped from the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP)

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Palliative care is being dropped from the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP)

Palliative Care, two word can change the life of an advanced stage cancer patient.
I personally see it, and also done a television story for that, I am little worry, why my fellow journalist are not covering this care...well in the mean time we have an effort of some NGO's and groups, who tell us that the 'ministry of health' is not so keen to care of this healthy idea!

Pallium India is working from last few years for this great cause. Hope you all 'pen friends' support the cause and have some idea to compel the policy makers to wake......

Aware Cancer

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June 13, 2007

Palliative care is being dropped from the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP).

In a strange move, the department of Health & FW seems to have decided to ignore its own policy, the recommendations of WHO and the decisions of a task force of experts that it had appointed itself, to decide that people in pain must continue to be in pain and suffering! And there seems to be no reason at all behind such a decision except possibly the lack of understanding of the problem by some officials in the corridors of power!

The background:

From 1986, the NCCP has proclaimed that pain relief should be an essential part of cancer care.

From 1991, numerous workshops conducted by Ministry of Health of Government of India planned the development of palliative care services in cancer hospitals.

But even now, there is hardly any progress. Palliative care continues to be available in a few pockets as a result of NGO action.

Finally in 2005, the Department of Health and Family Welfare of Government of India appointed a task force to assist in formulating strategy for National Cancer Control Program in the next five year plan from 2007-2012. One of the six arms of the task force was on palliative care.

The 15 experts in the palliative care task force had numerous discussions and meetings and finally submitted its recommendation. We were told that this time palliative care would get its due share and people suffering needless pain in the country will finally get some reprieve.

But recently, all the experts’ recommendations have been ignored and palliative care has been left out altogether. The apparent reason given is that we can prevent all cancers and if some do occur, we can cure them! While even in all developed countries, despite all research, even today, only a minority of cancers get cured!

What sort of people are we, if in our arrogant state of health, we ignore those who are less fortunate and need a little inexpensive medication and care to help them spend the remainder of their days with some comfort and dignity!

We understand that it is not too late and that the Minister can still bring palliative care back into the NCCP.

Please see the following letter that we sent to the Hon. Health Minister in April 2007 and please do whatever you can to help those in pain and suffering!

Dr M.R.Rajagopal

Chairman, Pallium India

PJRRA 65, Pothujanam Road

Kumarapuram

Trivandrum 695011

Kerala.

mrraj47@gmail.com

April 28, 2007

To,

Hon’ble Minister Sh. Ambumani Ramadoss

Hon’ble Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare

Nirman Bhavan

New Delhi

Dear Sh Ramadoss,

Sir, you met with us at the American Cancer Society University Program on Tuesday 24th April evening. Some of us were on the Palliative Care Task Force for the National Cancer Control Program, NCCP, 2007-12.

We were extremely happy to hear from you that the budget for cancer the XI Plan NCCP is likely to be Rs 2500 crores. We recognize that the quantum increase in this budget from the X to the XI Plan is because of your direct involvement and intervention.

However the very next day we heard from the Joint Secretary, Mrs Bhawani Thayagarajan, in her address to the Scholars, that with the Ministry of Health’s focus on Awareness and Early Detection and the funds assigned for this purpose, she hopes that in the next 10 years there will be no need for Palliative Care in the country. The fact is in spite of all technological advances, awareness and early detection in developed countries, worldwide, 50% of cancer patients require palliative care. It appears too that the Budget for Palliative Care may have been folded in to the total NCCP budget.

Hon’ble Minister Sir, this is deeply disturbing news. We most earnestly beseech you to intervene, before it is too late and the NCCP and XI FYP get approved and finalized.

Our Palliative Care Task Force had recommended a budget of Rs 68 crores, a paltry amount compared to the overall Cancer budget, but critical for the development of Palliative Care Services in RCCs and other cancer treatment facilities, education and training of medical professionals, many of whom continue to be ignorant of the need for Palliative Care, improvement of Opioid Availability in the country and public awareness programs. As you are well aware, Hon’ble Minister Sir, availability of palliative care services and well-trained palliative care specialists, will indeed be very cost-effective, because they will help to avoid expensive anti-cancer therapy which brings little relief to them, but also becomes a drain on their own the family’s and even the nation’s resources.

On behalf of over 2 million patients of cancer and other chronic diseases who are in avoidable pain and in dire need of palliative care and morphine, we request your help. We request your personal attention to the matter to ensure that budgetary allocation as recommended by the task force be included in NCCP.

Thanking you

Yours sincerely,

For Pallium India.

Send your doing's to aware.cancer@gmail.com

posted by Cancer Awareness @ 2:11 PM

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