An integrated approach to palliative care – a narrative review

Abstract

According to WHO, palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing prob-lems associated with life-threatening illness. The goal of this therapy is to improve the quality of life and is focused on providing relief to the patients from pain, troublesome symptoms, physical stress and mental stress due to a serious illness. In India, cancer and other noncommunicable illnesses are be-coming the major public health issues. The need of palliative care in India is immense but quite often there is little accessibility to palliative care services. The concept of yapya and asadhya vyadhi mentioned in Ayurveda are rele-vant in the context of palliative care. This article tries to explore the scope of panchakarma and allied procedures which can be incorporated with the con-ventional palliative care services to deliver the best outcome to the suffer-ings. An integrated approach of Ayurveda along with conventional manage-ment can provide better outcome for the complex needs of seriously ill pa-tients and their families.