[The Lancet Commissions] Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief —an imperative of universal health coverage: the Lancet Commission report

In agonising, crippling pain from lung cancer, Mr S came to the palliative care service in Calicut, Kerala, from an adjoining district a couple of hours away by bus. His body language revealed the depth of the suffering.We put Mr S on morphine, among other things. A couple of hours later, he surveyed himself with disbelief. He had neither hoped nor conceived of the possibility that this kind of relief was possible.Mr S returned the next month. Yet, common tragedy befell patient and caregivers in the form of a stock-out of morphine.

Source: LANCET - October 12, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: Felicia Marie Knaul, Paul E Farmer, Eric L Krakauer, Liliana De Lima, Afsan Bhadelia, Xiaoxiao Jiang Kwete, H éctor Arreola-Ornelas, Octavio Gómez-Dantés, Natalia M Rodriguez, George A O Alleyne, Stephen R Connor, David J Hunter, Diederik Lohman, Lukas Tags: The Lancet Commissions Source Type: research