Coinciding with World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, Sparsh Hospice on Saturday inaugurated its groundbreaking “Living Will Clinic” in Hyderabad, marking it as South India's first dedicated center for advance care planning. The clinic’s mission is to empower patients to formally document their end-of-life care preferences through legally recognized advance directives, fully supporting the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day theme of “Achieving the Promise: Universal Access to Palliative Care.” 

The Clinic will provide consultations, legal guidance for creating advance directives, and counseling for patients and families. It will be staffed by palliative care physicians, psychologists and trained professionals in advance care planning and will offer follow-up support to ensure directives are documented, witnessed and accessible to treating teams. Sparsh Hospice aims to remove financial and informational barriers that often prevent people from making informed end-of-life decisions. 

Founder Trustee of Sparsh Hospice Dr. M. Subrahmanyam said that the living will clinic is a practical step toward honoring each person’s right to decide their care and added that the clinic also aims to sensitize community through workshop and to spread awareness about advance care planning across Telangana. Another Founder Trustee Jagadish Ramadugu said that on World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, Sparsh’s journey in bringing dignity to more than 14,000 patients is being celebrated. 

The launch aligns with Sparsh Hospice’s broader initiatives to expand access to palliative care, including community outreach, caregiver support programs and professional training. The organization plans to host monthly clinics, public workshops and collaboration sessions with government health departments to integrate living wills into standard patient records. Early evaluations will monitor uptake, patient satisfaction, and the clinic’s impact on end-of-life care decisions.