Parliament Question: Palliative Care Centres

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 2209 TOBE ANSWERED ON12TH DECEMBER, 2025 PALLIATIVE CARE CENTRES 2209 SHRISUBBARAYANK:

COM. SELVARAJ V:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleasedtostate:

(a) whether it is a fact that a study conducted by the Association for Socially Applicable Research incollaboration with NGO PalliumIndia hasfound that India has just four palliative care centres for every ten million people, leaving millions battling cancer, chronic illness and terminal conditions without timely pain relief or support andif so, the detailsthereof;

(b) whether it is also a fact that most of the large States remain severely underserved,

whereas Kerala is a stand-out model with only 2.5 per cent of India’s population, it hosts 44.5 percent of all palliative care centres in the country and in contrast Uttar Pradesh has just 12 centres for 17 per cent of the country’s population and if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to set up more palliative care centresinthe country? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE INTHE MINISTRYOFHEALTH ANDFAMILY WELFARE

(SHRIPRATAPRAOJADHAV)

(a) & (b): The National Programme for Palliative Care (NPPC) is being implemented across all 36 States/UTs. At present, palliative care services under NPPC are functional in around 600 districts. The State-wise information of District Hospitals providing palliative care services, under National Programfor Palliative Care (NPPC) isplaced at Annexure I.

Home based palliative care services are also being delivered by trained Accredited Social HealthActivist (ASHA) andCommunityvolunteers.

The State-wise details of Out-patients, In-patients and Home based Palliative Care services underNPPCfor the financialyear2024-25 isat Annexure-II.

(c): Palliative care is one of the 12 essential services delivered at the Ayushman Arogya Mandir (AAM) level, encompassing preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative, andpalliative care. The government is also leveraging tele-consultation services at AAM to provide access to specialists and implementing community-based initiatives to support care.

ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and community volunteers are trained to identify bedridden patients and others needing palliative care within the community. They conduct periodic home visits, provide support to patients and families, and help ensure continuityof care byfacilitatingappropriate referrals. CommunityHealthOfficers(CHOs) at the AAMs supervise care and provide regular medical attention, pain management, and emotionalsupport.Annexure-I DistrictscoveredundertheNationalProgramforPalliativeCare(NPPC) S.No NameofState/UT TotalNumberofDistrictsfunctionalasonOctober2025 1 Andaman&Nicobar 3 2 AndhraPradesh 23 3 ArunachalPradesh 26 4 Assam 35 5 Bihar 6 6 Chandigarh 1 7 Chhattisgarh 14 8 Delhi 1 9 DNH_DD 3 10 Goa 2 11 Gujarat 41(33Districtsand8Municipalcorporation) 12 Haryana 18 13 HimachalPradesh 12 14 Jharkhand 18 15 Karnataka 31 16 Kerala 14 17 Ladakh 2 18 Lakshadweep 1 19 MadhyaPradesh 51 20 Maharashtra 34 21 Manipur 16 22 Meghalaya 11 23 Mizoram 9 24 Nagaland 3 25 Odisha 30 26 Puducherry 0 27 Punjab 4 28 Rajasthan 42 29 Sikkim 4 30 TamilNadu 38 31 Telangana 34 32 Tripura 8 33 JammuandKashmir 1 34 UttarPradesh 23 35 Uttarakhand 13 36 WestBengal 27+1(KolkataMunicipalCorporation) Total 600Annexure-II StatewiseOutPatient,In-PatientandHome-BasedPalliativeCareServicesfortheyear2024-25 S.No State/UT NumberofPatients NumberofPatients NumberofPatientswho whoavailedOPD visitedathome availedIPDservices services 1 Andaman&NicobarIslands 2871 2246 189 2 AndhraPradesh 545312 266675 20483 3 ArunachalPradesh 4433 899 1617 4 Assam 87836 19545 6812 5 Bihar 573318 37381 4693 6 Chandigarh 2410 296 161 7 Chhattisgarh 252778 46731 15087 8 Delhi 35336 82 4112 9 Goa 2728 1096 214 10 Gujarat 270459 73855 21996 11 Haryana 45316 15801 4515 12 HimachalPradesh 3281 1552 6298 13 JammuandKashmir 45786 6947 7355 14 Jharkhand 23195 5379 2091 15 Karnataka 290681 56009 50985 16 Kerala 1347566 977879 43939 17 Ladakh 3289 2357 1025 18 Lakshadweep 923 386 136 19 MadhyaPradesh 217403 89897 40532 20 Maharashtra 539427 280553 68105 21 Manipur 5790 7744 592 22 Meghalaya 8743 4049 3415 23 Mizoram 7358 7473 475 24 Nagaland 3621 2658 300 25 Odisha 223056 71370 37737 26 Puducherry 12341 2039 193 27 Punjab 19997 5095 2701 28 Rajasthan 71905 3143 9564 29 Sikkim 4596 4598 164 30 TamilNadu 521641 258766 31583 31 Telangana 152799 53322 22369 32 DadraandNagarHaveliand DamanandDiu 1731 3113 311 33 Tripura 16424 19763 1444 34 Uttarakhand 8108 2444 2535 35 UttarPradesh 368834 33832 35477 36 WestBengal 360777 152688 100851 AllIndia 6082069 2517663 550056