Palliative Care Units for Cancer Patients

Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Smt Anupriya Patel stated this through a written reply in the Rajya Sabha informed that as per Indian Council of Medical Research’s Cancer registry data, the estimated incidence of cancer in the country, State/UT wise during 2017 is given below:

Health is a State subject, however to supplement the efforts of State, the Government of India is implementing  National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC) under National Health Mission (NHM). There is no state-wise/national data maintained under NPPC, which suggest the inadequacy of number of palliative care units in the country as the support under the Program for the States/UTs is primarily for establishing basic palliative care services at district hospitals.

The program is a part of the ‘Mission Flexipool’ of National Health Mission (NHM). A framework of operational and financial guidelines for the states has been developed, on the basis of which the states/UTs prepare their proposals related to palliative care and incorporate them in their respective Programme Implementation Plan (PIPs) to seek financial support under NHM. The palliative care units at district hospitals, which are supported under the program, are at different stages of getting operational. A list of the districts covered, so far, under the program is given below:

List of districts, state-wise, covered under National Program for Palliative Care