NEW DELHI: Nearly 7-10 million people require palliative care (PC) in India, but less than four per cent have access to it, said the latest study, which found that only Kerala and Chandigarh provide better accessibility to these centres as compared to states like Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Bihar.

The study, published in the ecancermedicalscience journal, said that the demand for palliative care in India is going to rise as four in ten people are estimated to have at least one chronic disease, and the burden is expected to rise to address serious health-related suffering, which is commonly associated with end-stage chronic diseases like cancer.

It said there are various barriers to the poor delivery of palliative care in India, including an inequitable distribution of services and poor geographic access to health centres.

Dr Parth Sharma, the lead author of the study, said, “Our analysis shows that access to palliative care in the country remains extremely poor, forcing people living with serious pain to travel long distances for adequate relief.”

“Yet improving access to palliative care and essential opioids for pain management does not require new infrastructure. Significant gains can be achieved simply by training more healthcare providers in palliative care and integrating these services across all levels of the existing health system,” said Dr Sharma from the Association for Socially Applicable Research (ASAR), Pune.