Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 02:33 am
EMMS International, Scotland’s oldest international healthcare charity, is calling for urgent action to support thousands of people in Malawi, Nepal and India who are facing their final days without pain relief or professional care.
Following a recent Channel 4 report into palliative care in Malawi, the charity has received support for its urgent appeal. It has worked at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, which was featured in the report, and is campaigning for pain relief and health care in rural areas.
“By 2030, a 70% increase in annual cancer cases and deaths is predicted in Africa, and many of those patients will not receive professional healthcare or pain relief unless we act now,” said Cathy Ratcliff, CEO and Director of International Programmes at EMMS International.
The charity is also highlighting the plight of patients in Nepal, where non-communicable, life-limiting diseases are predicted to be the leading cause of death by 2040. EMMS International and International Nepal Fellowship are running a three-year UK Aid Match project, Sunita, to provide palliative care in hard-to-reach locations. Since April 2022, 1,048 individuals have been trained and a vital system of morphine supply to remote villages has been established.
Rima is 17 and her mother is living with multi-system atrophy, a rare, incurable, degenerative condition. Before EMMS International brought her mother under the care of the palliative care team at Green Pasture’s Hospital, all the family savings had been spent on her treatment. Without intervention, more than a third of the population in Nepal could face their final days without medical attention or pain relief.
Across the border, a vital palliative care service in India is facing imminent closure due to a cut in funding by an external funder. EMMS International is hoping to bridge the annual shortfall of £80,000 and ensure the service can remain open to the marginalised and impoverished communities it serves.
“Our greatest achievement is that our doors are still open to the poor and our wards are full of these precious people,” said Lead Doctor, Dr. Ashita Singh. “We urge people to help us support those facing their final days to live with dignity and to make every day matter.”
Those wishing to contribute to the appeal should visit emms.org/care.
