With more than 200,000 Ugandans in need of palliative care and only 10 percent currently receiving it, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised an urgent increase in access to palliative care services for patients with life-threatening infections.
WHO advisor on HIV/AIDS, Dr Innocent Nuwagira, speaking on behalf of the country representative Dr Joachim Saweka, argued that scaling up the services was critical since most patients present in advanced stages with limited chances of recovery.
“Ideally, palliative care services should be provided from the time of diagnosis of life threatening illnesses, adapting to the increasing needs of cancer patients and their families,” he said.
At a recent conference organised by the Palliative Care Association of Uganda and the health ministry, Nuwagira appealed to health experts to collect data on the cancer prevalence in the country and adopt a palliative care model developed by Hospice Africa.
Health minister, Christine Ondoa said the Government had secured enough medicine and trained health workers to offer palliative care in health centres countrywide, although there are no adequate facilities for early detection and treatment of chronic diseases.
Ondoa added that her ministry had asked districts to submit budgets for palliative care and treatment this financial year. She said the health ministry would ensure regular access to supply of oral morphine powder through the National Medical Stores.
Hospice Africa Uganda, palliative care centre in Kampala recently started producing oral morphine at its head offices in Makindye, a Kampala suburb.
The country director of Hospice Africa Uganda and pioneer nurse in palliative care, Rose Kiwanuka commented that most health workers have not yet understood the concept of palliative care.
“When you go to a health centre, the health workers only focus on the disease, but there are other social or even spiritual issues that affect a patient,
“We should stop looking at people with chronic illnesses as people who are going to die.”