Inaction Perpetuates Unnecessary Suffering (Tiruchirapalli) -
India's government should act urgently to ensure access to pain
medications, Human Rights Watch said ahead of a national
conference on palliative care in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.
Hundreds of thousands of Indian patients with cancer and other
conditions experience agonizing pain every year because they do
not have access to morphine - an inexpensive, safe, and highly
effective pain medication. Government drug regulations, lack of
training for health care workers, and poor integration of care
are the core reasons for the lack of access, Human Rights Watch
said. "Each day the government fails to act, more than 2,000
cancer patients in India die in excruciating pain," said
Diederik Lohman, senior health and human rights researcher at
Human Rights Watch, who is to address the conference on February
13, 2010. "The government should take decisive action to end the
unnecessary suffering." In a 102-page report, "Unbearable Pain:
India's Obligation to Ens