Expand palliative care for ill, elderly

Levy heavy taxes on tobacco products: House panel

- Kavita Bajeli-Datt @ New Delhi

NOTING that India has rolled out the National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC) under the National Health Mission (NHM), a parliamentary committee has recommended expanding supportive care to reach the maximum number of people, as the ageing population is steadily increasing, along with the prevalence of chronic illnesses.

The panel highlighted the importance of tracking the efficacy of palliative care interventions and recommended introduction of robust outcome indicators to assess the impact of NPPC on patients' lives.

Following deliberations over a petition which sought making cancer treatment affordable and widely-available, the 163rd Report of the Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha, advocated for wider palliative care measures for patient relief. "Collectively, these measures will help establish a cancer care ecosystem that is data-driven, patient-centric, and outcome-oriented," the report said.