| We are all born to die. At present,
50 million people die annually. We ought to give those who are
about to depart life the same standard of care that we give to the
newborns. By implementing the knowledge of palliative care both
the quality of life and the quality of the terminally ill can be
significantly improved I am posting here nine recommendations by
a WHO Expert Committee on the relief of cancer pain and palliative
care to countries for achieving effective palliative care.
1.Governments should establish national policies and programmes
for palliative care.
2. Government of member states should ensure that palliative
care programmes are incorporated into their existing health care
systems, separate systems of care are neither necessary nor
desirable.
3. Governments should ensure that health care workers
(physicians, nurses, pharmacists, etc.) are adequately trained in
palliative care.
4. Governments should review their national health policies to
ensure that equitable support is provided for programmes of
palliative care in the home.
5. In the light of the financial, emotional, physical and
social burdens carried by family members who are willing to care
for cancer patients in the home, governments should consider
establishing formal systems of re-imbursement for the principle
family caregivers.
6. Government should recognize the singular importance of home
care for patients with advanced cancer and should ensure that
hospitals are able to offer appropriate back-up and support for
the home care.
7. Governments should ensure the availability of both non-opioid
and opioid analgesics, particularly morphine for oral
administration.
8. Government should ensure that their drug legislation makes
full provision for the following:
(a) regular reviews, with the aim of permitting importation,
manufacture, prescribing, stocking, dispensing, and administration
of opioids for medical purposes.
(b) legally empowering physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and
where necessary, other categories of health care worker to
prescribe, stock, dispense and administer opioids.
(c) review of the controls governing opioid use, with a view to
simplification, so that drugs are available in the necessary
quantities for legitimate use.
8. With pressure for the legislation of euthanasia likely to
increase, government should make strenuous efforts to keep fully
informed of all developments in the field of cancer pain relief,
palliative care and management of terminal cancer.
If you have questions related to this article you may e-mail me
at doctor@soontongkiong.com quoting the contents of the article.
About the author
DR SOON is a medical practitioner. He holds four degrees. MBBS
(University of Malaya), MBA (University of East Asia), LLB (Hons)
(University of Wolverhampton), Master of Medicine (Edith Cowan
University
:
Dr SOON is the owner of AskMyVisitor.com and MyScriptDoctor.com
where you can find the most up-to-date advice and information
on
many medical, health and lifestyle topics.
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