Speakers at the observance of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2026 stressed that pain management is an essential part of palliative care and that relief from suffering is a human right. The observance was held at St. Joseph Pain and Palliative Care Centre, 7th Mile, Chümoukedima, under this year's theme "Pain Management: An Essential Part of Palliative Care." Many patrons of the centre were present at the event.

A video presentation, put together by the centre's public relations officer showcased the centre's activities over the past year. It offered those gathered a look at the care and support the centre has extended to patients and their families during the period.

Delivering the presentation on the theme, Dr. Tony Vikas Bishwas, HoD and Consultant, Palliative Medicine, CIHSR, said pain is not only physical. When a patient feels like a burden to the family, he explained, it becomes psychological, spiritual and social pain, which he described as "total pain." Such pain, he said, requires total care covering the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of the patient. He added that no single person can provide this and that a team from different specializations is needed for holistic care. "Pain relief is not a luxury, it is a human right," he said, adding that this is why the day is observed. The key message, he said, is to understand the total pain.

Special guest T. Lemlila Sangtam, Additional Deputy Commissioner and Executive Officer, CTC, Chümoukedima, congratulated the centre and encouraged it to continue showing love and care to those in need. She said the gathering was built around a central and urgent truth: “no one should have to suffer preventable pain.”

"Across the world, millions of people face serious life-limiting illnesses. Too many of them endure physical agony, sleepless nights and emotional exhaustion, not because relief does not exist, but because access to this care does not reach them," she said.

Describing pain as complex, she said it "steals a person's appetite, strains their family, darkens their spirit, and isolates them from the moments that matter most." She cautioned that treating pain as an afterthought, or allowing fear and stigma to block access to essential analgesics, amounts to a failure of the basic duty of compassion.

Stating that palliative care "is not about giving up," she said it is about living as fully as possible for as long as one can. Comfort, dignity and relief, she asserted, are human rights and not luxuries.

She also acknowledged the patrons of the centre.