6 lakh people need palliative care annually

Every year around 6 lakh people in Bangladesh need palliative care, which is an effort approved by the medical science to minimise the suffering of patients with incurable conditions.

Professor Dr Kanak Kanti Barua, vice-chancellor at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University revealed this on Thursday quoting a recent report by the Economic Journal.

He was addressing a press briefing held to commemorate the upcoming "World Hospice and Palliative Care Day" scheduled to be observed on October 12, with the theme "My care, my right."

The Department of Palliative Care in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University has been serving terminally ill patients with the aim to reduce their suffering.

"People suffering from incurable medical conditions and diseases have the right to receive appropriate medical care. The care is a scientific effort to minimise the patients' suffering and it also provides support to the patients' families," Dr Kanak said.

"Palliative care improves the quality of a terminally ill patients' life," he added.

Bangladesh ranks 79th among the 80 countries in the world in terms of availability of palliative care, according to an Economist Journal report.