PD Hinduja Hospital launches comprehensive Palliative Care Services

Mumbai: With an aim to provide emotional and physical support to chronically ill patients, P.D. Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre celebrated World Hospice and Palliative Care Day  recently by inaugurating its new Palliative Care service. Under this initiative, the hospital will provide palliative care services, pain relief treatment and counselling to in-patients and OPD patients, including cancer patients. Palliative Care, also referred to as ‘comfort care’ or ‘supportive care’ involves providing chronically ill patients with relief from the symptoms or pain associated with a disease and seeks to improve the quality of life for both the patient and the family. Palliative care plays an important role in alleviating short-term symptoms and provides long-term support against chronic diseases.

Launching the Palliative Care service at the hospital, Mrs. Usha Raheja, Trustee, P.D. Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre said, “P.D. Hinduja Hospital has always been supporting various initiatives to help and enable patients to fight their disease and share their experiences. All our patients are treated like family here and this is our endeavor to walk with them through their struggles providing help wherever needed. We understand the importance of end of life care and with this new service, we hope to serve society with much needed medical attention.” Mr. Gautam Khanna, CEO, P.D. Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre said, “At P.D. Hinduja Hospital, we always keep patients at the center of everything that we do. Through our palliative care services, we aim to provide excellent quality care to these patients and make them feel comfortable as much as possible.”

Talking on the occasion, Dr. Roop Gursahani, Consultant Neurologist, P.D. Hinduja Hospital & Medical Research Centre said, “Palliative care is a medical discipline that focuses more on relief than cure that is essential during the last years of life. There is very little or no awareness about the importance and need for palliative care all over India. Access to palliative care is equally low and therefore, patients who require palliative care, often do not receive it. Through our palliative care services, we intend to change this scenario and provide best quality palliative care services to the sick.”

Palliative Care Services are provided to patients at any age and any stage of terminal illness and further seeks to bring ease and comfort in the last stages of life. Some of the diseases that come under this are Cancer, Congestive heart failure, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), HIV/AIDS, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, etc.

In order to create more awareness and encourage conversations around end-of-life care, famous ad guru, Piyush Pandey along with P.D. Hinduja Hospital’s management and other partners launched www.onelittlewish.org. The website is an online informative platform on palliative care and the ongoing efforts to get a legal framework in place to give people legitimate rights when making decisions about their last days.