Home-Based Palliative Care [HBPC]
While speaking at the World Economic Forum on 28 April 2024, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that treatment for cancer was too costly for the poor population of Pakistan (Express Tribune 28/4/24).
The number of relapsed patients and those who have not got medical attention in time translates into a huge cancer population in Hyderabad who need palliative care. By providing palliative care to cancer patients, HBPC is filling a major gap in government health care in Hyderabad and surrounding areas.
With the support of donors and through its dedicated staff, St. Elizabeth’s Home-Based Palliative Care (HBPC) provides break-through health care in Hyderabad for cancer patients in a way not found elsewhere in Pakistan. St Elizabeth is the only hospital in Pakistan that provides home-based palliative care. A few other hospitals have in-hospital palliative care. Palliative care nursing given by St. Elizabeth is free. In December 2024, construction of a Palliative Care Day Centre will commence at St Elizabeth. This will be another breakthrough in the care of cancer patients.
Due to nursing logistics, St. Elizabeth Hospital restricts its palliative care service to cancer patients. St Elizabeth is a member of the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) and International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC). The major obstacle to giving pain-free palliative care to terminally ill cancer patients in Pakistan is the great difficulty of accessing medicinal morphine which is the standard medication for pain relief. The issue is not cost but excessive government restrictions.
St Elizabeth’s Home-Based Palliative Care is given free of cost and with much compassion. People often choose to support it in memory of loved ones who have died of cancer.