Idukki achieves total Palliative care status

THODUPUZHA: Idukki has achieved the rare honour of becoming the first district in the country to achieve total palliative care status. Under the Sampoorna Palliative Care scheme, thousands of people suffering from various ailments and are left without anyone to take care of are being given care and medical support in the district. People suffering from terminal illness are getting health care at home under the system, said district panchayat president Alex Kozhimala.The project has become 100 per cent operational in the district since its launch in all the panchayats on January 16.Alex Kozhimala said that the exercise to find out those in need of palliative care at home has been completed, enabling the district to achieve the distinction.Water Resources Minister P J Joseph will make the official announcement of the district achieving complete palliative care status at a function to be held at the EAP Hall here on Friday.The effort to find out people suffering from various problems like spinal ailments and old-age ailments will be intensified in the future, he said.The scheme is being implemented in coordination with different agencies, including the district panchayat, the municipality, 53 village panchayats, the Health Department and the Kudumbashree Mission.Among the large number of people in need of care, some are bed-ridden, isolated from the mainstream and struggling owing to financial and social problems. The groundwork for the project started in 2008 with the aim of setting up a unit in each grama panchayat to take care of the sick. Under the scheme, the treatment is being provided by a medical team from the district hospital as per the information provided by nurses in each panchayat. The patients are given treatment and medical equipment at home in addition to the care given by  outpatient units at the hospitals.The team at the District Hospital has also been provided with a vehicle to visit the patients.Under the scheme, medical equipment and wheelchairs were supplied to the patients. The allocation of funds for the scheme will be made in a more planned manner from next year onwards, Alex Kozhimala said.