A message from the Ukraine on beginning palliative and hospice care

Development of Palliative Care in the Ukraine

Editor’s note: This is a press release about a working meeting on chaplaincy in palliative care and World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, which is on October 7, 2006. They reached out to PlainViews to ask us to let other chaplains around the world know about this new endeavor in the Ukraine.

On the 4th of September, 2006, there was a meeting about chaplaincy in palliative care and the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day. This was the first such meeting ever held in the Ukraine.

It is known that about 500,000 persons die in the Ukraine each year. About 100,000 of them die from cancer. This sad statistic shows that these patients left the world mostly in enormous pain, because it is well known that oncologically ill people need adequate pain relief, which is not provided very often because of the specific Ukrainian laws.

According to the statistics, 5% of Ukrainians die in medical institutions, 85% at home, and 10% in other places. But places where they could meet death with dignity (hospices) in Ukraine are presently lacking.

Unfortunately, Ukraine also experiences the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. In numerous civilized countries, the network of hospices for those who die from AIDS was established a long time ago. In Ukraine, according to official reports, each year about 5,000 persons die with AIDS.

Incurably ill and dying patients need palliative/hospice care. So, numerous letters from the Ukrainian patients directed to the All-Ukrainian Council on Patients’ Rights and Security encouraged the Council to start the project “Development of palliative care in Ukraine.” The Initiative found the understanding and support of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and the “Renaissance” Foundation. A Task Force on palliative care was formed.

Developing palliative care, which is a form to assist incurably ill and dying people, needs the efforts of medical and social experts. One of the main principles of palliative care is to relieve the pain and other heavy manifestations of illness, and also integrate medical care with spiritual and psycho-sociological support. The spiritual issue is very important. Providing dignified end-of-life care is postulated in the world religions. Spiritual care is also needed for those who help sick people and everyday meet suffering, death and human weakness.

Understanding that, on the invitation of the All-Ukrainian Council of Patients’ Rights and Security, at its meeting of 4th September 2006, the representatives of different churches and religious organizations responded. Participants in the meeting were: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the Kyiv Patriarchate), Ukrainian Lutheran Church, Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, All-Ukrainian Union of the evangelical Christian Baptists, Roman-Catholic Church in Ukraine, German Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

In the meeting, the following issues were raised:

1.	Providing spiritual care for incurably ill and dying persons, and also those who assist them.
2.	Possibly initiating in the churches and other sacral places the special prayer for those who are incurably ill or dying.
3.	Possibly organizing prayer for those who die and those who are incurably ill with the participation of the different confessions.
4.	The participation of the different confessions in the Task Force on palliative care.

It was decided to start this united preparation on the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (7th October 2006). It is hoped that this will draw attention to the needs of the incurably ill and their relatives, and help the initiatives of medical personnel and social workers whose intent it is to help these people more.

We hope that the support of the mass media makes the event really interesting and unprecedented in Ukraine as well as in Europe.

Do you have thoughts about advocacy you’d like to share with your colleagues? Send an e-mail to info@PlainViews.org.