REFLECTIONS ON AN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE Palliative care in India: Visiting as a volunteer

Abstract

What did you learn during your volunteer visits to India?

What we view in the Western world as a right is not a right for all people in this world of ours. In India, the most distressing statistic for me was that more than 75% of all people diagnosed with cancer are in the late stages of the disease at the time of diagnosis, and desperately need pain medicines and palliative care. However, less than 0.5% of people actually receive it. According to the WHO, morphine consumption per capita is regarded as an indicator of pain relief.