White Paper: Catholic Church supports palliative care

    

    

Doctors newspaper online, 27.07.2019

    

        
        
        

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White Paper

In order to improve palliative care worldwide, the Pontifical Academy for Life has published a White Paper on the initiative of the German Palliative Foundation.

By Christian Beneker

A White Paper aims to improve palliative care worldwide

© photographee.eu / Stock.adobe.com (Photo with photo models)

NEW ISENBURG. Around 40 million people a year need palliative care. But the offers for the patients are very different internationally. Often painkillers, trained personnel or education in the population are missing, reports Dr. med. Thomas Sitte, Chairman of the Board of the German Palliative Foundation.

Now, on the initiative of the German Palliative Foundation, the Pontifical Academy for Life has written a "White Paper on the Global Promotion of Palliative Care" . The aim of the booklet is to improve the care of dying patients worldwide.

Among other things, the 13 palliative experts who wrote the white paper recommend that all patients with chronic diseases have access to palliative care before they die.

Low Cost Painkillers

For example, pharmacies and health centers should provide painkillers at affordable prices – even in non-standardized dosage forms. Authorities should provide morphine, charities should support palliative care, doctors and nurses working there should have their work certified and trained.

All universities involved in the training of health professionals (such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, pastors) should offer palliative training as a compulsory course in the first stages of training, the White Paper states.

"We approached the Catholic Church because it has an incredibly dense international network," says Sitte of the "Ärzte Zeitung". Custom continue: "We want to work on a small scale to be successful on a large scale. But we know that God's mills grind slowly, the mills of politics slower. "

In fact, the need for painkillers often does not seem to be met. "Russia, for example, has the red lantern in the supply of morphine," says Sitte. "In India, on the other hand, the situation is better, not least because the Catholic Church is active here." There is still a lot to do.

Magical-religious beliefs

In many places, rigid bureaucracies and "stupid regulations" prevented access to pain medication, reports Sitte. "But also magical-religious beliefs that understand illness as a punishment."

Even in Europe, palliative care has almost white spots on the map. 4.4 million people in the EU need palliative care every year. The supply differences are enormous. For example, the APCA Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe 2019 lists the number of palliative care teams (inpatient teams, consultation services and specialized outpatient palliative care teams). At the top is Austria with 2.2 teams per 100,000 inhabitants.

Germany is in the upper midfield with 1.1 teams and Greece is far behind on the scale with 0.0 teams. In addition, European countries with high per capita income provide much more morphine than countries with low per capita income. The range is between one milligram per capita per year and 159 milligrams per capita and year.

Finally, the recommendation is also refuted euthanasia clubs says custom. "We want to explain that we do not need business-related suicide aid in Germany to relieve suffering."

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