BSMMU signs MoU on palliative care

The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University has signed a three-year deal with a Singapore-based palliative care network to train its doctors and nurses for better treatment of the terminally ill patients.

Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Prof Pran Gopal Datta and the Associate Professor of Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN), Dr Cynthia Ruth Goh signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday in Dhaka.

Health minister A F M Ruhal Haque was present on the occasion.

Under the deal, Singaporean experts will come to Dhaka at regular intervals to train doctors and nurses.

APHN, a network of 200 organisations and 1,100 individuals working in palliative care in the Asia region, will also facilitate overseas scholarships for Bangladeshi doctors and nurses in palliative care training.

The first week-long training is scheduled to begin on Apr 6.

Doctors say, palliative care focuses on symptom management, psycho-social support, and assistance with decision-making that usually offer comfort to the terminally ill patients.

It relives pains and reduces the use of aggressive treatment measures at the end stage of a patient suffering from diseases like cancer and HIV.

The university first took a limited initiative at the institutional level in Bangladesh in 2007.

Professor of the university’s Centre for Palliative Care Dr Nezamuddin Ahmad said the demand was increasing by the day, though they still have limited facilities to offer.

“In 2007, we have seen only 14 patients at the outdoor, but last year it was 1,178,” he said and that in 2009 the number of admitted patients were 27 in two beds, but last year it was 430 in 20 beds.

They also offer home-based service and counselling over phone.

He said palliative care was an ‘active care’ of patients suffering from "life-limiting diseases" and their "families" by a multi-professional team.

He said the care was ‘very important’ to help the patients and their family adapt to the situation. “They need to be prepared for all the sufferings from the time the disease was diagnosed, and also during the treatment.”

Globally morphine is being used to relieve pain of the terminally ill, he said.

The Health Minister lauded the initiative and said people were not aware about this mode of treatment.

“The art of palliative care is not medicine, it is to make them (dying patients) feel that they are still wanted. They are still needed in the society,” he said.

The Vice Chancellor requested the Singapore-based Network to impart proper training to the doctors and nurses in Bangladesh.

He also suggested to take doctors from Bangladesh to Singapore so that “they can learn the dedication” of caring patients.

Many countries have integrated palliative care in their national policies and involved community people to make the best use of the concept, doctors involved in palliative care say.