MEC supports palliative care

KZN Health MEC, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, visited Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital on 15 February to commemorate International Childhood Cancer Day.

Speaking at the hospital, he said it was a fact that worldwide 175 000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year. It has also been proven that two-thirds of the children treated for childhood cancer do suffer long-term effects from treatment.

“Today I came here to give support to the young cancer sufferers with the full knowledge that cancer treatment for young patients takes a very long time; it can also cause unwanted side effects and other problems during and after treatment,” he said.

He said that when an adult gets cancer, it’s likely to start in the lungs, breast, colon, prostate or skin, but that with children it is always mostly in the white blood cells, the nervous system, in the brain or bones, in the lymphatic system, muscles or kidneys.

Twenty-five children are housed within the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital’s Oncology Unit.

“We came here to fully enact and give support to the notion of palliative care, defined by the World Health Organisation as an approach that seeks to improve the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness. We thank Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children for being involved with providing palliative care to all the children that are in this hospital, as well as 10 other hospitals in our province. We thank them for providing care and support to all the families and helping them come to terms with the mortality of their children in this difficult situation,” said Dhlomo.

He said supportive palliative care improves the patient's physical, psychological, social and spiritual quality of life, and also entails provision of comfort, peace and dignity to both the patient as well as family members.

“Palliative care emphasises living, encourages hope and helps people to make the most of each day. We can all get involved,” he said.