Date:17/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/17/stories/2008031752630100.htm

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Free palliative care centre to be set up

Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI: A day care centre and hospice offering free palliative care for patients with degenerative illness will be soon set up here by the Palliative Care Association of Tiruchi.

Announcing this at the inauguration of the association on Sunday, T. Mohanasundaram, founder of the association and director of Sudharshna Palliative Care Hospital, said the hospice would offer in-patient services based on the severity of the diseases. The district administration had offered to identify a suitable site for the purpose. The centre would cover patients with chronic ailments including HIV/AIDS, cancer, renal failure, and neurotic and psychiatric disorders. Resources would be raised locally and free medicines distributed.

After cardiovascular diseases, cancer and HIV/AIDS stood second in terms of the number of patients affected every year. Despite medical sophistications, the degenerative diseases were painful for the patients and the treatments, in most cases, aggravated the pain.

The association was conducting contact classes for doctors and paramedical staff for a two-month-long training programme conducted by the Indian Association of Palliative Care. It would also offer short-term courses for volunteers from the city to assess and identify patients at different localities.

District Revenue Officer A. Nambirajan distributed certificates to 17 doctors and nine nurses who appeared for the examination of the certificate course in palliative care conducted by IAPC.