COINCIDING with the 66th anniversary of the death of legendary Communist P Krishna Pillai, on August 19, 2014, 1789 volunteers under the banner of the Initiative for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care (IRPC) visited households in Kannur district inhabited by people requiring palliative care.

It is estimated that in Kerala, around 0.3 to 0.4 percent of cancer patients require palliative care, which would mean that around 200 persons in every panchayat in the state, totaling to a whopping 1.25 lakh patients require palliative care.

Seeking to intervene in the situation and provide some relief and support to people who are denied access to the health care system, the CPI(M) at the last two conferences of its Kerala unit held at Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram in 2008 and 2012 respectively, passed resolutions calling upon the Party to intervene to provide palliative care in the state.

As a follow up to these resolutions, in Kannur district, under the initiative of the Party, the Initiative for Rehabilitation and Palliative Care (IRPC) was set up. It was formally inaugurated in the year 2012 by CPI(M) Central Committee member and former state health minister, P K Sreemathi. This initiative draws inspiration from the example set by the P Krishna Pillai who exhorted Party members to attend patients suffering from contagious diseases like Smallpox and Cholera during the 1943-45 period.  

The IRPC has 1135 members. It has a district level governing body with 21 members with 18 zonal committees under it. Besides local level committees, panchayat level committees have been formed in each of the panchayats in the district.

As opposed to providing palliative care in institutions, the IRPC focuses on providing such care within homes through dedicated and trained volunteers. So far, the IRPC has trained 1800 volunteers in palliative care at different levels of whom currently 1789 are offering regular service. Squads of such home care volunteers visit each and every patient each week without fail.

The IRPC also runs a drug bank and an ambulance service. One of these ambulances was donated by the C Bhaskaran Foundation. To meet any contingency, the IRPC has formed blood donation groups. In the last one year alone the drug bank run by the IRPC has provided medicines worth around Rs 20 lakhs to patients under its care in the district. It has conducted cancer follow-up camps in various parts of the district which has benefited more than a thousand patients. It has also been holding special medical camps for residents of tribal colonies. Besides, the IRPC also organised 30 medical camps in collaboration with cooperative hospitals in the district. The organisation also runs monthly medical camps for prisoners lodged in the Kannur Central Jail.

The IRPC is a broad-based organisation with people drawn from varied political affiliations participating and contributing to its activities. The dedication of its volunteers and their commitment has won admiration even from the Party’s political opponents. Recently, a former member of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee P P Lakshmaman donated an amount of Rs 25,000 apart from arranging sheets and waterbeds worth another Rs 25,000 through the Lions Club.

The IRPC will be opening a Palliative care centre on September 20 on the occasion of the martyrdom day of Azhikodan Raghavan. The IRPC also plans to open a rehabilitation centre at Malappattam in Sreekandapuram area, land for which has been donated by the Party.