Visitors at the exhibition by the ‘Good to Go’ Death Literacy Festival at Bangalore International Centre on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ALLEN EGENUSE J.
Karnataka is the first State in India to implement the Supreme Court order on legalised will and Advanced Medical Directive (AMD) that can be executed by a living person who is of sound mind and body on medical advice, but there is not enough data on how many are using it, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.
He was delivering the keynote address at ‘Good to go’, a literature festival around the theme of Death and end of life palliative care.
Noting that not only does the process ease the suffering of someone at the end of their life, but also helps their family and friends, he said, “There is a lot of guilt associated with it. They need a way of doing it to get a sense of closure. This process allows them to do that.”
‘Suggestions welcome’
The Minister, however, admitted that there is little data on how many people are using it or have come up with an AMD. “I hope hospitals start waking up to this. We also need to educate the hospitals as they are the ones to get this implemented and advice the patients,” he said.
“We have come out witha policy. But we can look at it again to see how to take it forward, implement it and, remove roadblocks,” he added, welcoming suggestions.
Better implementation needed
The two-day Death Literatue Festival, organised by Pallium India, an NGO that aims to integrate palliative care and pain relief with health systems, and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, is being held at Bangalore International Centre.
Speaking at the festival, Dr. Nagesh Simha, medical director at Karunashraya Hospice, noted that while Karnataka has done a lot towards introducing policies for palliative care and AMD, the implementation of the policies need to percolate further at all levels including government hospitals.
Smriti Rana from Pallium India, Dr. Rajani Bhat from Sparsh Hospital, Hardik Dua from Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Sweety Thomas from Ajit Isaac Foundation and theatre artist Darius Sunawala spoke at the event.
Published – August 23, 2025 10:57 pm IST
