Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with serious illnesses. Palliative care focuses on providing comprehensive care that includes relief from the symptoms of stress originating from illness. The goal is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and the family. Each year, an estimated 40 million people require palliative care; 78% of them are people living in low- and middle-income countries. Worldwide, only about 14% of people who need palliative care currently receive it. It is estimated that the total number of people who need palliative care in India per year is 5.4 million. Palliative care in India was introduced nearly 30 years ago. Less than 1% of patients have access to palliative care in India. Palliative care in India is in a relatively early stage of development and consequently faces numerous problems.
Palliative care can be recommended in the case of many different medical conditions. Pain associated with the illness can be a major reason for the patient requiring palliative care. This may be in the case of Cancers, AIDS or even cardiovascular diseases. Difficulty breathing is another major symptom that warrants palliative care as an intervention. The purpose of palliative care is to minimize the suffering of the patient and their loved ones.
Palliative care in India involves a range of services delivered by professionals from different fields and expertise- including physicians, nursing, support workers, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, and volunteers. They all have equally important roles to play in supporting the patient and their family.
India has only a handful of palliative care centers localized in certain urban parts of the country. Despite efforts for almost three decades, palliative care services are nonexistent or minimally developed in most regions of the country. Although there are places where excellent palliative care is offered to a lucky few, those needing palliative care in other parts of the country rarely receive it. Aurum Senior and Assisted Living in Gurgaon is one of the leading centers of hospice and palliative care in India offering comfort care packages.
There have been many challenges and barriers to the implementation of palliative care globally. The palliative care development follows the public health model developed by WHO. The palliative care provision and global development are still patchy throughout the world. However, there have been promising developments happening globally, the governments’ and policymakers’ interest has still been in cursory stages worldwide. Let us deliberate over the challenges to the implementation of palliative care in India.
Often terminal illness in aged parents compel their children to send them to old age homes because these homes have an in-house team of doctors, nurses, caregivers, and emergency handlers to take care of senior citizens which children are unable to provide. At assisted living homes, senior citizens get better care and medical assistance than at home, which is especially necessary for those with dementia, geriatric problems, or post-operative patients. That way, their children remain stress-free too.
Aurum, a Senior and Assisted Living Home in Gurgaon, Delhi NCR is a leading old age home in India that provides palliative care with symptom Management Pain and symptom management through a combination of medication and other healing techniques.
● Cognitive well-being: Personalized physical & mental activities to help the resident continue to have meaningful engagements in their day to day
● Medical Counselling – Medical counseling to provide clear and direct information in a conducive manner and to help ease out the distress for the resident and family
● Emotional Well Being: Supportive Counselling and bereavement counselling to help the patient and their family to cope with the situation
● Diets & nutrition– Dietician curated meal plans to manage the illness and support the medication
● Regular Check-Ups– Regular medical check-ups and daily vitals of the resident to create a thorough medical history
● Pain Management – Application of pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods to manage pain
Besides the medical care, Aurum also helps in the holistic healing of the resident – physical, mental, and spiritual. Aurum’s palliative care packages offer a support system to patients to live actively, enhancing the quality of life and influencing the course of illness in the process. With a team of highly qualified doctors across all major medical specialties- supported by ICU-trained nurses and caregivers, Aurum uses a team approach to cater to the needs of the resident and their families including bereavement counseling, whenever required. Advanced level palliative care is also available with the help of network hospitals. Aurum asserts of tie-ups and partnerships with some of the most reputed medical institutions in the country. Contact Aurum to know more about palliative care stay packages.
