Media responsibility on palliative care

Photo:Malayalam movie actor Mammooty on his frequent visits to the palliative care clinics in Calicut

A report in today's Times of India screams 'India worst in end-of-life care'. The report rightly laments about the poor condition existing in the 'end of life care' and how India is lying at the bottom of 40 countries from which sample data has been collected. It's true that a newspaper should highlight such a sad state of affairs in a vastly growing economy like India. TOI reports, 'India doesn't just have a poor quality of life, as reflected in its poor human development index (HDI), it also has a particularly poor 'quality of death'.

However what is missing in the news report are some of the highly positive remarks in the original white paper published yesterday by Economist Intelligence Unit on issues surrounding end-of-life care. It says "Amid the lamentably poor access to palliative care across India, the southern state of Kerala stands out as a beacon of hope. While India ranks at the bottom of the Index in overall score, and performs badly on many indicators, Kerala, if measured on the same points, would buck the trend. With only 3% of India’s population, the tiny state provides two-thirds of India’s palliative care services. More over, the state has a formal palliative care policy in place (it is the only Indian state with such a policy)and its government provides funding for community-based care programmes. It was also one of the first of India’s states to relax narcotics regulations to permit use of morphine by palliative care providers. Kerala has also extended the definition of palliative care to include the long-term chronically ill and even the mentally incapacitated."

The report highlights the success story of palliative care movement in Kerala that uses holistic and unconventional approaches compared to institutionalised western approaches. What started in a dressing room of two anesthetists in Calicut Medical College is now the most unique approach to palliative care that is being replicated in countries like Bangladesh, Seychelles and even Switzerland.

While reporting on the sad state of affairs in India vigorously, Times of India could also have inspired many with the success story of palliative care movement in Kerala. With more than 250 self-funded palliative clinics and a massive volunteer base that crosses 20,000 trained volunteers who re-defined community participation in health sector, there are plenty of learning for many other Indian states.

This success story of palliative care movement has to be told mainly because the Government - Public participation (especially community involvement in fund raising and caring) is something that can be replicated in other parts of India. As Dr. Suresh Kumar, Director of Institute of Palliative Medicine says, “there are a lot of medical problems, but there are also a lot of
social, spiritual and financial issues—so anybody who has time to spare can, if properly trained, take care of these people,”.

Indians have heard enough of negative things about their country. It's time we celebrate success stories. Media has a role to play in it.

New Delhi

The first impression of Delhi more than a decade ago was the chilly January, smoggy city, unbelievable crowd on railway platforms (not to mention of those who all considered it as their literal spittoons), arrogant auto drivers, road rage of green line buses and filmy policemen. Introduction to a largely corrupt NGO sector completed the full circle of Delhi. The only positive thing other than some fantastic friends I made in Delhi looked like the small “KIT KAT’ eatery that served the best Paneer mutter masala and Bhurji in South Ex market!



This was soon after I moved from corporate to the development sector. Over the period of last ten years, occasionally I got introduced to some wonderful people ranging from politicians to bureaucrats, social entrepreneurs, activists, cultural stalwarts, writers and some page 3 personalities. From my first visit till now, Delhi has grown by couple of million people, increasingly choked roads, more stupid looking and inefficient policemen, a good metro that partially connects the city and less polluting vehicles that ply the choked roads.



Couple of weeks ago when I came to Delhi once again to launch some new initiatives, I was still weary of the city. Profusely cursing the sweltering heat, I went on praising the cool climes of Bangalore and wonderful Monsoon of Kerala. While listening to my rants on what I am doing in this City, some of my friends patiently reminded me that the easy way to handle any city is to accept it as it is and find my way around.



Two weeks in the city is bringing me closer to it and teaching me to look at the many positive sides it has. There might be a reason why 14 million people might be living in this city. Right?

Viking Laws

Came across these lines on a post card.

# 1 Be brave and aggressive.
Be direct.
Grab all opportunities. Use varying methods of attack.
Be versatile and agile.
Attack one target at a time.
Don't plan everything in detail.
Use top quality weapons.

# 2 Be prepared.
Keep weapons in good condition.
Keep in shape.
Find good battle comrades.
Agree on important points.
Choose one chief.

# 3 Be a good merchant.
Find out what the market needs.
Don't make promises that you can't keep.
Don't demand overpayment.
Arrange things so that you can return.

# 4 Keep the camp in order.
Keep things tidy and organized.
Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group.
Make sure everyone does useful work.
Consult all members of the group for advice.

GP 2009, Oslo

Airport trouble continues...

I have had all kind of experiences so far in many airports in Europe. Today was the wierdest I guess. After my laptop was screened at the security, I was asked to follow the woman police officer who said, she has to take me to a 'special room'. Wondering what I did this time, another officer gently checked my laptop, swipped a 'special' white paper (which of course turned black of all the dust I have been carrying for ages!) on the keyboard twice and after inserting that into a sophisticated machine ( at least looked like one for my lay eyes!) declared, " It's fine you can go".

While wondering what it was all about, he said, "Oh, we were looking for explosives!". Cool. Was it a random check? or Something turned up on the computer screen ( because of the heavy dust on laptop?) or just as most of the time, was I just showing my tendency to get into such unexpected troubles :)? I have no idea. Since the officer explained that his English isn't good enough to explain all my queries, I just took my flight to Copenhagen! All amused. Once again!

© GP Copenhagen

TBY Responsible Tourism networking at the ITB Berlin- 13 March 2009

The Blue Yonder (TBY) has been invited by ITB – Berlin to organise a networking evening to bring together Responsible Tourism initiatives across the world on the 13th March 2009. This was following the success of fringe events organised by TBY and its partner (Your Safe Planet –YSP) in relation with World Travel Market in London in the last two years. Both the events brought together individuals and organisations pursuing Responsible Tourism in destinations and markets.ITB Berlin is dedicating one day on Corporate Social Responsibility of the travel industry and is organising several workshops and conferences on CSR. The evening of 13th March will be providing a platform for Tour Operators, Grass Root organisations, Media, Policy makers and flag-bearers of Responsible Tourism to come together.

Media Partner for the RT Networking

“Being the leading travel show in the world, ITB provides a unique opportunity to learn and share from various RT initiatives across the world. The event will bring together those who are looking for promoting their RT products in the originating markets and those in the markets looking for genuine and unique products from the destinations. Considering the demand for such a gathering to learn and share, it is only natural for us to bring this event to ITB. The networking event will be organised in a way that attendees get an opportunity to present their initiatives to the gathering.”

The Blue Yonder is also organising a workshop focusing on Travel Philanthropy and Responsible Tourism prior to the RT networking event. The 45-minutes discussions and short workshop will be organised in association with Centre for Eco Tourism in Destinations (CESD), Go Philanthropic.om and Travel To Care. The session will be looking at various trends in Travel Philanthropy.

Date 13-03-2009
Venue Messe Berlin / Hall 4.1
Travel Philanthropy workshop 1700:1745
The Blue Yonder Responsible Tourism networking 1800:1930

Those who are interested in attending the event or present their initiatives in front of a gathering that understand Responsibility in Tourism, please contact itb@theblueyonder.com.

Keep yourself update on this page.
© GP 2009

TBY Musical Trail featured in 'Concerto'

Since I can't read German, I can only presume that they have written good things about our Musical trail in Concerto. Feature is not available online. Click on the image to read in German. This is the 4 th article on TBY in the media in less than two weeks. The Week's 'Healthy things to do in 2009', a mention on TBY and Foundation in the Sunday Indian Express, a detailed reference to TBY in Travel Trends Today (T3). None of this available online. So shall try to upload one by one.

Bangalore © GP 2008

Season's Greetings 2009

Bangalore © GP 2008