Positive developments in children’s palliative care in Bangladesh
“Imagine treating pain in children with advanced cancer using only paracetamol?” writes Dr Megan Doherty, a paediatric palliative care physician living and working in Dhaka, Bangladesh. “Until August 2013, there was no paediatric palliative care service at this hospital, despite the significant need for these services. Recently, with the support of World Child Cancer we have started to develop paediatric palliative care services within the department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology at BSMMU.”
Initially, it was not possible to prescribe morphine; however sustained advocacy has begun to yield results and morphine tablets and syrup have become available.
In the picture, you can see Dr Megan Doherty holding morphine syrup, happy to have been able to use it and relieve suffering.
Read the article by Dr Megan Doherty published in ehospice, where she talks about barriers to accessing palliative care for children and the encouraging developments in Bangladesh.
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