Maharashtra Rolls Out Statewide Palliative Care Programme

Mumbai: In a major relief for patients suffering from chronic and incurable illnesses, the Maharashtra government has implemented a statewide Palliative Care Programme, ensuring pain management and supportive care closer to home. Under the new initiative, powerful pain-relief medicines such as morphine will now be available at primary health centres (PHCs), following the issuance of a government resolution.

Until now, patients with cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, neurological disorders, and age-related chronic pain were often forced to endure severe suffering while travelling repeatedly to higher-level hospitals. With no dedicated system in place, many lived with physical pain, mental stress, and financial hardship. The new policy formally recognises palliative care not as an optional service, but as an essential component of the public healthcare system.

As per the decision, palliative care services will be made mandatory across all district hospitals, sub-district and rural hospitals, PHCs, urban health centres, and Arogya Vardhini centres in the state. District hospitals will earmark four to six beds exclusively for palliative care patients, and no patient will be denied admission on the grounds of bed unavailability.

One of the most significant aspects of the programme is the decentralised availability of morphine and other pain-relief medicines. Trained medical officers will be authorised to prescribe these drugs at the PHC level, reducing the burden on rural patients who earlier had to travel long distances to district hospitals for pain control.

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The programme covers a wide range of conditions, including cancer, heart, liver, kidney and lung failure, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, chronic pain in the elderly, paediatric palliative care, disabilities, and long-term mental illnesses.

A key feature of the initiative is home-based palliative care. Teams comprising trained doctors, nurses, community health officers, ASHA workers, and social workers will provide door-to-door services, including treatment, medication, counselling, and caregiver training. Home visits will be conducted weekly, fortnightly, or monthly, depending on patient needs. The programme also provides out-of-hours care for terminal patients and bereavement support for families after death.

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