LAHORE, Dec 28: The ever-increasing number of terminally advanced patients admitted to hospitals need palliative care treatment instead of hospital treatment.

It is not only cost-effective and but less painful too for patients and their families.

The palliative and hospice care is a concept that provides coordinated medical, nursing and allied services to terminally ill patients in an environment of their choice. The palliative care provides physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual support for patients and their families. The palliative care is for all terminally advanced patients suffering from different lethal diseases and organ failures.

According to Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre consultant physician and palliative care Dr.Moeenul Haq, the comfort of the patient is of prime concern and all services are provided in the light of the basic principle.

The centre is the only institution in Pakistan that has the membership of the Asian Pacific Hospice Network (APHN) for the last four years and is offering the hospital-based palliative care for terminally advanced cancer patients, though at a limited level. It has yet to develop adequate community links owing to resource constraints and trained palliative care nurses.

It may be mentioned that over 60 per cent patients registered with the centre are incurable and need palliative care rather than indoor treatment at the hospital. The hospital has 39,000 registered cancer patients whose total visits to the hospital number 700,000.

“The number of visits to hospitals by such patients will substantially come down if adequate community links are developed,” says Dr Haq.

No other private or public hospital around the country offers palliative care.

King Edward Medical College/Mayo Hospital principal executive officer Prof.Dr.Mumtaz Hasan says the concept of palliative care is not available at any public hospital in the country. He, however, says that the terminally ill patients must be given maximum comfort in the last days of their lives.