Telangana districts get free palliative care facilities

The facilities ensure that patients with end-stage diseases receive much-needed relief from symptoms, pain and suffering, and are able to lead a better life.

Hyderabad: In a significant milestone, palliative care facilities for terminally ill patients are now available for free at government hospitals in all 33 districts of Telangana.

Established by the Telangana government in collaboration with voluntary organisations, these facilities ensure that patients with end-stage diseases receive much-needed relief from symptoms, pain and suffering, and are able to lead a better life.

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Apart from providing palliative care at district hospitals, field-level healthcare workers, including Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) trained in palliative care, are also providing home-care services.

A large number of terminally ill patients are immobile and struggle to travel to the nearest government healthcare facility. As a result, trained ASHAs and palliative care workers make home visits to provide them with the necessary care.

The free palliative care facilities provide end-of-life care to patients suffering with life-limiting diseases like cancer and also distribute medical morphine for pain management. Inpatient and outpatient palliative care facilities are available at all district hospitals in the 33 districts. Every facility has a doctor, five nurses, a physiotherapist, a driver and five non-clinical staff to take care of patients and day-to-day activities.

The State government is incurring an expenditure of anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 35 lakh for each of the free palliative care facilities. To enable healthcare workers to travel to the houses of the patients, the State government is also providing them with mobile vans, called Mobile Home Care Units (MHCU).