Supreme Court Seeks Centre's Response On Status Of Implementation Of 2017 Palliative Care Guidelines

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to file within 3 weeks its response on implementation of Palliative Care guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2017.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order in a PIL seeking directions for provision of palliative care to terminally-ill persons as part of the national health programme.

The Union government shall file the affidavit after collecting and collating data from the States/Union Territories on the implementation of the 2017 guidelines, the Court said.

Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari appeared for the petitioner and submitted that only the Union and States of West Bengal & Uttarakhand have filed counter-affidavits in the matter. However, the short affidavit filed by the Union does not indicate how it is complying with the 2017 guidelines, namely, the National Program for Palliative Care.

"In fact, the guidelines say that at the district level, you have to set up a palliative care team and every state has to have a state palliative protection cell. Let them say how many states have set up the cell. Let them say in how many public healthcare centres, there is a palliative care team" she said.

On hearing her submissions, the bench called for the response of the Union.

The petition, filed by Dr Rajshree Nagaraju, defines palliative care as end-of-life care that aims at improving the quality of life for terminally ill patients and protection of their dignity and autonomy. Statedly, such care includes physical, emotional, psychosocial, spiritual, and rehabilitative interventions.

According to the petitioner's claims, majority of adults and children who require palliative care have chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (38.5%), cancer (34%), chronic respiratory diseases (10.3%), AIDS (5.7%) and diabetes (4.6%).

Notice was issued on the petition in March 2024, when a bench led by former CJI Dr DY Chandrachud called for Union's comprehensive response indicating steps taken and the policies in force for administering palliative care to terminally ill-patients. 

Appearance: Senior Advocate Jayna Kothari (for petitioner); ASG Vikramjit Banerjee, Senior Advocate Nachiketa Joshi (for respondents)

Case Title: DR. RAJSHREE NAGARAJU Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 138/2024

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