title: Palliative Care Tailored Towards the Needs of the Poor in India.
abstract: Traditional approaches to palliative care may not meet the unique needs of poor cancer patients in developing countries. Cancer patients treated in India are often unable to make repeat visits to the hospital, pay for drugs, or understand and follow complex treatments. Many are from rural areas and may lack basic financial or social support. Our palliative care clinic has taken a series of innovative first steps towards meeting these unique needs, from providing treatment without complete diagnosis, accelerating through the World Health Organization (WHO) analgesic schedule, systematically simplifying prescriptions, and providing treatment free of charge. This paper describes these first steps, presents an initial evaluation of their impacts, and articulates a number of opportunities for additional improvements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Safdarjung Hospital & VMMC, New Delhi, Flat No. 706-Sadbhawna Apartments, Sector- 46, Faridabad, Haryana 121001 India.
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lal
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Palliative Care Clinic, Safdarjung Hospital & VMMC, New Delhi, D1/29, Chanakya Puri, New Delhi 110021 India.
authors.forename: Saveena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Raheja
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Safdarjung Hospital & VMMC, New Delhi, 29 B, Masjid Moth DDA Flat, Phase-I, New Delhi, 110048 India.
authors.forename: Suniti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kale
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Safdarjung Hospital & VMMC, New Delhi, J/1821, Chitranjan Park, New Delhi 110019 India.
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Bhowmik
keywords: Cancer; Diagnosis; Palliative care; Prescriptions