THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There are 1,34,939 bedridden individuals in the state who have registered for continued care, according to data available on the universal palliative care service portal of the state government. Of these, 59.5% are women.
A total of 5,968 individuals in the age group of under 18-40 are in need of palliative care, unable to move from their bed without the help of a second person.
The tally is likely to increase as the data is limited to institutions run by the government and local self-government bodies. Private institutions have now been instructed to report the number of bedridden individuals in their care.
According to available data, there are 87,596 individuals over the age of 70 receiving palliative care in the state.
The project is setting a milestone in the state’s health sector by implementing a universal portal to ensure continued care for bedridden individuals. As a first step, data of individuals who avail primary palliative care from government-level institutions have been registered on the portal -- www.sannadhasena.kerala.gov.in/volunteerregistration. Being undertaken by the health and local self-government departments, this is the first such initiative in the country.
“The government wants to bring all palliative care facilities in the state under one platform,” an official with the Aardram Mission told TNIE. “There are units working under panchayats, hospitals and NGOs. By collecting data of all individuals who are in need of care, we can ensure continued service, which cannot be carried out by individual institutions. We have now asked NGOs to register and around 1,101 have already done so,” he said.
Under the project, any individual with an hour to spare daily can register as volunteers in their localities. Training for volunteers will start once 30 individuals register on the portal. The last date for volunteer registration is June 15.