The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Union government to file a detailed status report within three weeks on the implementation of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s 2017 guidelines on palliative care.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order while hearing a petition seeking directions to make palliative care for terminally ill patients a part of the national health programme. The matter has been posted for further hearing on November 25.
Palliative care refers to specialised medical care for individuals suffering from serious or terminal illnesses, focusing on improving quality of life rather than curing the disease.
Senior advocate Jayna Kothari, appearing for the petitioner, informed the court that the National Programme for Palliative Care guidelines issued in 2017 required concrete steps at both the state and district levels, including the setting up of district palliative care teams and state-level palliative protection cells.
She pointed out that while the Centre has filed a short affidavit in the case, it does not address the extent of compliance with these mandatory guidelines.
“In fact, the guidelines say that at the district level, you have to set up a palliative care team and every state has to have a state palliative protection cell. Let them say how many states have set up the cell,” Kothari submitted. She also asked the Centre to provide data on how many public health centres have operational palliative care teams.
Taking note of these submissions, the bench recorded that copies of the 2017 guidelines have been shared with counsel representing the Centre and the states.
“The additional solicitor general and the senior counsel appearing for the Union of India are granted three weeks time to obtain instructions with regard to the implementation of these guidelines not only by the Union but also after collating the respective data from the respective states and apprise this court of the status,” the bench said in its order.
The Supreme Court had issued notices in this matter in March 2024, seeking responses from the Centre and other authorities on steps taken to integrate palliative care into the healthcare system. At the time, the court had directed the Union government to file a comprehensive response detailing the policies and measures in place for administering palliative care to terminally ill patients.
