Kidwai’s home-based palliative care reaches over 3,000 patients and caregivers

Dignitaries at the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day event held at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in Bengaluru on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

For patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, palliative care often needs to extend beyond hospital wards to their homes, where families grapple with pain, emotional distress, and the demands of long-term caregiving. 

At the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO), the Department of Palliative Medicine has made home-based care a key part of its services, reporting more than 750 home-care visits, over 12,000 km travelled and more than 3,000 beneficiaries, including patients and caregivers.

These services were highlighted while observing World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on October 10, which this year carried the theme ‘Pain management: An essential part of palliative care’.

“With the help of volunteers and NGOs, we also extend financial support for children’s education. We provide waterbed and airbed, ration kits, and nebuliser machines for use at home. It is not just about treating the patient,” M.K. Yadhuraj Gowda, Head of the Department of Palliative Medicine at KMIO, told The Hindu.