Experts on the importance of creating hospices in the country

Baku /15.10.19 / Turan: There are still no hospices, institutions providing palliative services to people in Azerbaijan. This service is designed to help improve the lives of people with severe and incurable diseases.

According to WHO recommendations, for every 400 thousand people there should be one hospice.

About 40 million people, including 2.1 million children, need palliative services in the world every year.

WHO also notes that only 14% of those in need can receive palliative assistance.

Adil Geybulla, MD, believes that creating hospices in Azerbaijan is unrealistic today. This requires government support, security and finance.

Hospices are designed to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients, and they are mainly funded by the state, because most patients do not have the means.

According to the head of the department of the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health Nabil Seidov, several years ago his department, together with parliament experts, prepared a bill on palliative care. In 2015, a pilot project was even launched at the Oncology Center of the Ministry of Health.

The creation of the hospice was included in the strategic plan of the Ministry of Health for 2015-2017. However, there is no progress in this direction so far.

However, Musa Guliyev, a member of the parliamentary committee on labor and social policy, assured Turan that laws on protecting family health and oncology help entitle patients who need painkillers to receive help in hospitals at the expense of the state.

"Such services are provided in particular in the Oncology Center," Guliyev said.

According to him, in the upcoming two acts - the rights of the patient and amendments to the law on the protection of public health, there are provisions providing for the creation of private hospices. -06D-