DUSHANBE, September 23, 2008, Asia-Plus — A five-day seminar for specialists from the Ministry of Heath (MoH) on providing palliative care was launched in Dushanbe on September 23 within the framework of Public Health Program of the Tajik Branch of Open Society Institute/Assistance Foundation (OSI/AF).
According to the Tajik Branch of OSI/AF, the seminar is conducted under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between a MoH and OSI/AF-Tajikistan.
The seminar participants include 42 specialists in adult and children’s oncology, HIV/AIDS subjects and nursing from all regions of the country.
Skilled specialists from the United States have been invited to conduct the seminar that is aimed to make its participants better informed of the following subjects: elements and models of aid to patients at the end of life; early planning of aid and working out directives on patients’ end-of-life treatment wishes; psychological features of communication with incurable patients and members of their families; adequate anaesthetization of incurable patients and rapid relief of symptoms in accordance with the latest achievements of medicine; and rules and approaches to administration and cancellation of palliative therapy.
Palliative care is an essential part of cancer control and can be provided relatively simply and inexpensively. The goal is to prevent and relieve suffering and to improve quality of life for people facing serious, complex illness.
Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited. It can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centers and even in children”s homes. Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and families who face life-threatening illness, by providing pain and symptom relief, spiritual and psychosocial support to from diagnosis to the end of life and bereavement.
