A new Community Palliative Care hub has opened in Narayanganj City Corporation, Bangladesh.
The hub is a vital part of Compassionate Narayanganj, a UK Aid Direct funded project to build compassionate communities providing care for the seriously ill in Bangladesh towards Universal Health Coverage.
This is where patients who are able to travel will come to be seen by the doctor or nurse. They will be referred there by the Palliative Care Assistants. It will also be the main project office so main point of contact for the project in Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC).
Use of the space was donated to the project by the NCC Mayor’s office and is a direct result of sustained groundwork by the project team to gain political support for the project.
This demonstrates Mayor Dr Salina Hayat Ivy’s commitment to seeing palliative care integrated into the health services. The gift of the use of the space also helps minimise project costs, making more funds available for direct care of people and families affected by serious illness.
The palliative care hub provides local ownership from the start of the project. This will be key to helping make the project sustainable over the long term.
It also gives the project important credibility within the community to have a physical space to show as a base in the community.
The hub will allow the project team to reach a wider range of local stakeholders and start to mobilise the community.
Professor Nezamuddin Ahmad, Head of the Department of Palliative Medicine at BSMMU, and leader of the project in Bangladesh, said: “We are very pleased to open our Community Palliative Care Hub in NCC. The hub is not only a functional space, but also an indication of the commitment and support for the project by local political leaders. We thank the Mayor of NCC for her support, as well as the British people whose generosity has made this project possible.”
The Narayanganj Palliative Care project is funded by UK Aid from the British people.
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