Palliative Care in the News

Dr Andrea Mendelsohn, a palliative care doctor working in the public sector, writes about South Africa’s public palliative care system failing a forthcoming World Health Organization audit, and what genuine access to pain relief and family support could look like if that changed. The piece, written in her personal capacity, also touches on the ongoing legal debate around assisted dying, arguing that palliative care access should come first.

Bhekisisa’s Mia Malan speaks to Dr René Krause, who leads the palliative care unit at Groote Schuur Hospital, about the unit’s award-winning partnership with the hospital’s oncology team, common misconceptions around morphine, and what dignity means for patients facing serious illness.

BizCommunity speaks to Dr Clint Cupido about Abundant Life Palliative Care, a hospital-based programme at Victoria Hospital in Wynberg that supports patients and their families after discharge. Referrals have grown sharply since 2009, as the programme works to make palliative care part of standard hospital practice.

In this Daily Maverick op-ed, PALPRAC’s Dr Julia Ambler writes with co-organisers from Palliative Care for Children South Africa and the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa about the first national conference bringing the three organisations together. The piece sets out how few South Africans, particularly children, currently have access to palliative care, and argues it should be everyone’s responsibility rather than a specialist field.

News24 traces a nationwide shortage of morphine powder, used to make the liquid morphine many palliative care patients rely on, back to a supply problem at a single Cape Town manufacturer. PALPRAC’s Dr Margie Venter features in the piece, describing the toll the shortage took on patients left without pain relief.

Spotlight looks at why good pain management is still out of reach for many South Africans, including gaps in access to morphine and in prescribing rules. PALPRAC’s Dr Margie Venter features in the piece.