An organisation that runs a hospital for liver diseases launched a programme on Thursday for palliative care for those suffering from critical liver diseases.

Sparsh, launched by the Liver Foundation, will provide medical guidance and emotional support to patients in advanced stages of liver cirrhosis through regular home visits.

Some of the problems that those in advanced stages of cirrhosis of the liver face are acute abdominal pain, swollen abdomen because of accumulation of fluid, breathlessness, and blood vomit, said doctors.

“Patients who are in advanced, chronic stage of liver disease have a tremendous impairment of life. They are in and out of the hospital and require prolonged treatment, sometimes liver transplants that not many of them can afford,” said Abhijit Chowdhury, chief adviser, Liver Foundation, West Bengal.

“Taking care of their well-being as long as they live is a societal concern. Hence, we have planned a programme through an app where we will provide both medical guidance and emotional support. Our objective is to keep them well and improve their quality of life rather than trying to cure them,” said Chowdhury.

Palliative care is commonly heard in cancer but Sparsh (touch) is bringing it to patients in advanced stages of liver diseases, he said.

Sparsh, is a collaboration of Liver Foundation and Virginia Commonwealth University. The patients can seek help through an app, called Raxa.

“The app is AI-driven. The patient can log on to the app, which is a 24X7 service, and share their problems. The app will have questions for the patient and simultaneously at the backend provide
information to the doctors, nurses and counsellors,” said Chowdhury.

“This will also provide a sense of security to the patient and the family members who often feel helpless and at times are unable to make the right decisions leading to loss of time,” he said.

According to Chowdhury, there are situations where patients experience symptoms, such as vomiting blood, in the middle of the night. This often leaves families uncertain about whether to rush to the hospital immediately or wait until morning, resulting in valuable time lost.

“Our team, through the app, will guide the patient on whether or not they need to visit the hospital. Information insecurity is a major lapse and we intend to bridge that gap so that the patient or the family members feel they have a security circle around them,” said Chowdhury.

Sparsh is not only about providing physical support but also emotional support to the patient.

Every 15 days there will be a visit to the patient’s home within a radius of 30km from Calcutta to speak to the patient, ask him about his health, give him medical remedies and also counsel those who feel drained out because of the prolonged disease and treatment, said Chowdhury.

The app and its services are free of cost.

A patient only has to enlist himself with the Liver Foundation which can be done by sending an email to sparsh.liver@gmail.com.

The programme was launched in the presence of Arun Sanyal, director, Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, Virginia Commonwealth University; Ajay Duseja, secretary general, Indian National Association for Study of the Liver; C.Eapen, professor, Liver Disease, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore; and Parthasarathi Mukherjee, secretary, Liver Foundation.