About 20,000 Kyrgyzstanis need palliative care annually. Milana Turgunalieva, co-chair of the Association of Palliative and Hospice Care of the Kyrgyz Republic, announced on Birinchi Radio.
According to her, palliative care is the most humane approach in medicine.
«It provides medical and psycho-emotional support to terminally ill patients with progressive diseases (advanced diabetes, resistant tuberculosis, AIDS, and terminal cancer). Palliative care is in high demand, but it is a relatively new field in developing countries, including Kyrgyzstan. Terminally ill patients also have the right to a quality life. The primary focus of palliative care is pain relief and symptom relief,» Milana Turgunalieva said.
She added that Kyrgyz law enshrines the right to receive this type of care. However, there are no hospices for adults in the republic.
«Maksat center has been opened in Bishkek this year. It’s a small department providing palliative care. There are departments at the National Center of Oncology and Hematology and at the Osh branch. That means there’s practically no place to hospitalize palliative patients because they aren’t treated surgically or oncologically. It’s different. As for children’s hospices, there’s only one, and it’s privately run. Unfortunately, there are no state-run children’s palliative care departments,» Milana Turgunalieva noted.
