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.
“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. Multidisciplinary teams provide medical assessment, symptom management, nursing care, and support in familiar surroundings, helping reduce the burden of repeated hospital visits. Palliative care also includes bereavement support for families after the death of a loved one. KMIO’s department provides guidance to help family members cope with grief, manage emotional distress and access support during the grieving process. Institute director R. Its services include medication and interventional procedures such as nerve blocks and neurolysis for selected patients with severe cancer-related pain that remains inadequately controlled with conventional treatment. The department has relaunched its ‘Call for Care – Neravina Kare’ service to connect patients living outside Bengaluru and in distant locations with specialist palliative care. Through telephone and video consultations, a team comprising a palliative care physician, nurse and clinical psycho-oncologist offers guidance on symptom management and emotional support.
Because of advanced illness, reduced mobility, or other challenges, the home-care service is intended for patients who find it difficult to travel to the hospital. 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. Krishnappa said the department provides inpatient palliative care for patients who require specialised management of pain and other distressing symptoms, with capacity for more than 30 patients. Patients and caregivers can contact the service on 9008441708.
Yadhuraj Gowda, Head of the Department of Palliative Medicine at KMIO, told The Hindu. It also provides paediatric palliative care, with age-appropriate pain and symptom management, emotional support and guidance for families caring for children with cancer and other serious illnesses, he said.
