Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Friday 10 June 2011

Where is there a Hospice for the Terminally Ill? Two Readers Comment

Beggars Belief! has left a new comment on your post "News Regularly Updated":

While proposed developments in the area of Health Service Delivery in Ba, Tamavua and elsewhere are welcome it is very obvious that urgency must be shown with A dedicated Hospice for the Treatment of Terminally Ill patients.
Cancer cases are increasing rapidly in Fiji. There is nowhere for them to go to receive the palliative care they so deserve. Why is there no Hopsice Care available in Fiji? Why do we not have a Fiji-equivalent of McMillan Nurses to give proper palliative care in people's homes? If we are so "caring" how is it that we have never done this? Surely, retired nurses may be retrained and suitable buildings found to take in those who need urgent pain relief in their last days. This is not beyond the imagination and capacity of government in partnership with the International Community and the Region. Such treatment should be available on a regional basis. It appears that to date, it is not. Looking back over the past ten years, it beggars belief that the Pacific Region has so failed its citizens in this provision. We are too busy spending money on things that have no lasting value. When patients die early of cancer and other painful diseases they leave behind them families which are bereft and devastate: no Social Security provision for them and no immediate support., What are we thinking of to have permitted such neglect? Former Parliamentarians and politicians of all stripes are to be made responsible and they now should take steps to assist in this oversight. Those who waste our money jetting around the globe should spend it At Home. Build a Hospice with the proceeds in each division of the country and show that you mean what you too often say with no concrete result.

A Hospice Movement for Fiji and the GCC has left a new comment on your post "Ratu Tevita and the Great Council of Chiefs: Damne...":

Where is a Grear Council of Chief's funded proposal for A Hospice Chain in Fiji for the Terminally Ill?

It would be a demonstration of their concern for all the people who suffer terminal disease requiring palliative treatment and care.

Mobile care would be delivered by specially-trained palliative care nurses who would be active in all the Divisions of Fiji to attend to people At Home.

Surely a worthy cause and deserving of their considerable attention?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You hit the nail on the head. Calling nurses out of retirement, where experience goes hand-in-hand with a caring attitude, is a key ingredient in good hospice nursing. A little training to update these ones with the new concept of hospice care, and Fiji will be on its way to a REAL move forward.