Palliative care is needful in Nigerian health sector, says Kolawole

THE Chairman of Kwara State zone of Hospice and Palliative Care Association of Nigeria, (HPCAN), Dr. Israel Kolawole yesterday canvassed prompt introduction of palliative care in the curriculum of Nigerian medical institutions.

Kolawole, at this year World Hospice and Palliative Care Day celebrations in Ilorin, said that Nigeria could not afford to be a pariah nation among the nations that were signatories to the compulsory need for the introduction of palliative care in their nation’s health care system.

Palliative care is the care of patients with active, progressives, far-advanced disease with a limited life expectancy. It is a vital component of the basic essential services within the universal health coverage as defined by the World Health Organisation, (WHO). Only six tertiary hospitals have the services at present in Nigeria.

According to Kolawole, while speaking on the theme for the celebration, ‘Hidden Lives/Hidden Patients’, “universal access to palliative care is a fundamental requirement to achieve this global goal for those facing serious illness. Barriers to accessing palliative care must be removed in Nigerian health sector as it had been done in some countries of the world. About 1.7 Nigerians are at present in need of palliative care.

“The worst hit patients are usually the vulnerable and under represented people and communities living in unique conditions and who often struggle with access to palliative care. They include children, HIV patients, prisoners, soldiers and those living in rural settings. “

Noting that it was part of the responsibilities of the government and well endowed Nigerians not only to promote “quality in life dignity in death and support in bereavement”, the local HPCAN leader, said palliative approach should be urgently allowed in the curriculum of Nigerian medical institutions.

He added, “everyone involved in hospice and palliative care and indeed all who share the ideals and philosophy of it should be involved in the efforts to improve awareness of the need for palliative care, to consider the hidden patients and how to reach out to them and help them access the care they need.

“Children are often neglected and hidden. Access to palliative care for children is poor in many parts of the world, with 21 million children worldwide needing a palliative care approach. The vision of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPC) and the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN) is a world with universal access to hospice and palliative care for adults and children.”

Kolawole said that the aims of the WHPC Day were the need to create more hospices and palliative care throughout the world, to raise understanding of the needs for medical, social, practical and spiritual of people living with life limiting illnesses and their family members, friends and carers and to raise funds to support and develop hospice and palliative care services globally.

Reacting to the role of palliative care in euthanasias (mercy killings), he said the concept of killing was antithetical to palliative care adding, “medically or religiously, we are not allowed to kill. In fact that is the vacuum, the palliative care has come to fill. Besides, we are making used of persons with the skills in alternative medicine, especially in the area of apun culture”.