The screams of pain from a dying neighbour and his own helplessness as a medical student made a deep impact on Dr Rajagopal.
It was this experience that drove him to experiment with different methods of pain management.
These small efforts led to the founding of the Pain and Palliative Care Society in Calicut in 1993.
What began as a small project in seven districts of Kerala grew into a World Health Organization (WHO) demonstration project by 1995, with hundreds of community-based centres supported by volunteers.
He later founded Pallium India to scale palliative services nationwide. In 2006, he established the Trivandrum Institute of Palliative Sciences, which became a WHO Collaborating Centre and influenced national policy.
Today, Pallium has helped in setting up 226 palliative care centres across the country, helped train over 13000 health workers in palliative care, and have helped reach palliative care to over 1,27,000 beneficiaries.
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Dr Rajagopal and the team of Pallium have also helped influence policy so that appropriate medication and relief is more easily accessible to those suffering from debilitating pain.
We had the opportunity to spend some time with Dr Rajagopal, learning about his rich experiences — some heartbreaking, others uplifting — and understanding the space of palliative care.