The 3rd Kenya National Palliative Care Conference came to a close on 14th September afternoon at the Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi Kenya.
The three day conference organized by the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) under the theme of “Strengthening Health Systems by Integrative Palliative Care” saw key note addresses from local and international stakeholders.
In her speech during the closing ceremony, Mrs. Dorothy Nyon’go, wife to Medical Services Minister Prof. Anyan’g Nyong’o said she found the conference meaningful and asked all participants to access the conference presentations and make good use of the information therein.
Mrs. Dorothy who is the Director of Africa Cancer Foundation said empowering people with information on palliative care especially in cancer will go along way in helping them take control of the illness.
“It is also important for carers to be informed and supported because they get overwhelmed in caring for the patients.” Mrs. Nyon’go said.
The Senior Deputy Chief Pharmacist in the Ministry of Medical Services, Dr. Elizabeth Ogaja pointed out that health is no longer a service to be delivered but a human right according to the Kenya constitution.
Dr. Joan Harrold Medical Director of Hospice and Community Care, Lancaster, USA thanked the Ministry of Medical Services Kenya for their support to KEHPCA.
Dr. Harrold said that the conference reminded healthcare providers of best practices and challenged them to deliver palliative care to all including special populations.
She further appreciated the fact that there was time to celebrate successes, talk about challenges and deliberate on the way forward in offering better palliative care.
She challenged all stakeholders in the conference to continue doing what seems impossible.
In her concluding remarks, the KEHPCA Executive Director Dr. Zipporah Ali said the conference was a success thanking all participants for cooperating.
“I requested no one to chair the sessions, I just put names and each one took up the task of running the sessions to the successful end.” Dr. Ali said.
“Together we can because we care”. Mrs. Dorothy Nyon’go
im a nurse in the usa and ive been involved in hospice care here,the care we provide to our patients is different to that in kenya due to the resources,facilities and other incentives that the nurse have access to.A dying person deserves to die free of pain and in the most dignified manner,thank God that our society back home can offer respite help unlike here in the US where people are so busy with trying to make ends meet.The issue with kenya is funding,how does a poor family afford morphine if they have no insurance?also do they providers really explain to families about palliative care??what really are the needs of a dying person?i experienced a dying person in kenya to (cancer) and was really touched,it was so painful to see an IV hanging on a piece of wood ceiling draining on a vein that blocked every other day,a family gathered around the bedside and yet could not afford to buy morphine for pain.Worst still the doctor and the nurses kept the dying man in the hospital for months withholding information from the family that the man had stage 4 cancer and would die within a month(costing them unnecessary bills).i vowed to give back and serve my country.im educating myself on hospice care in Kenya and hope to use the opportunity ive had here to help my beloved country.
Thank you KEHPCA for all you do…and thanks for the palliative care conference updates,
Wambui, glad you are keen in improving palliative care for the patients.
Iam a kenyan registerd nurse breast cancer survivor.finished my 1o month treatment in august.during my treament in India I developed a passion on cancer care and when i was not down with chemo i decided to persue a tranining on oncolgy nursing,i wanted to know,what, indians do that we don,t do in kenya,that makes them better than us in terms of treatment.I was awarded a certificate in oncolgy nursing.I take this time to congratulate what your organization is doing for the cancer patients in kenya. this is a noble course. my prayer is that all cancers to be detected early and treated and that no cancers is detected late stage.mobile 0722891342