The aim of the programme is to build capacity in palliative care training and provision in Bangladesh.
The Vice-Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Prof Pran Gopal Datta, and the Chairperson of Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN), Dr Cynthia Ruth Goh, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch the project on 19 February in Dhaka.
Dr Goh has previous experience leading training-of-trainers teams in Vietnam from 2005 to 2008 and in Indonesia from 2009 to 2012.
Bangladeshi Minister of Health, A F M Ruhal Haque, was also present at the signing and spoke about the importance of raising awareness of palliative care in the country.
The training will take place over a period of three years, with contact sessions of a week at a time.
Palliative care professionals including doctors, nurses and social workers from around the Asia-Pacific region will travel to Dhaka to provide bedside teaching and lectures on topics such as pain management and symptom control, and communication skills.
The first week of training is scheduled from 6 to 10 April 2013.
In addition to in-country teaching, there will also be a series of scholarships for Bangladeshi doctors and nurses to train in palliative care units around the Aisa-pacific region.
The signing of this agreement forms part of the Lien Collaborative for Palliative Care, an initiative funded by a four-year grant by the Lien Foundation of Singapore.
The initiative is mandated to run Training of Trainers projects in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This includes projects planned for Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. The grant covers the position of a Programme Director (already appointed), travel and accommodation expenses for trainers to fly to those countries from Singapore, a clinical fellowship program in established palliative care units in the region, and elements to improve drug availability in the target countries.
APHN has issued a call for individual volunteers to do the teaching, and palliative care organisations to contribute their staff time for this work, and to offer places for clinical fellowships for healthcare workers from developing countries.
This would include:
- Volunteers able and willing to travel to teach in Bangladesh and/or Myanmar
- Organisations willing either to contribute staff time or to take clinical fellows
For enquiries about training in Bangladesh, please contact the BSMMU Centre of Palliative Care (contact person Prof Nezamuddin).
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