The purpose of this project is to promote appropriate access to opioid therapeutics in India, by identifying solutions to known regulatory and practical barriers to availability.
Most people with advanced-stage cancer experience moderate/severe pain which is treatable with opioid pain-killers. In India, most people with cancer live with, and die from it, without receiving these effective pain-killers, due to well-described regulatory and practical barriers.
Despite barriers, there are pockets of ‘good practice’ where clinicians caring for people with cancer have overcome barriers, enabling access to opioids, and provide good cancer-related pain control.
We will interview key clinicians at successful clinical teams in India, to find out how they have overcome problems and managed to implement solutions. We will produce a ‘Best Practice Handbook’, to discuss with other cancer services.