The following palliative care services are known to exist in Belarus:
Existing Services (2002)
Adult
Inpatient - Freestanding
0
- Hospital Unit
0
- Hospital mobile team
0
Nursing Home
0
Home Care
0
Day Care
0
Total
0
Paediatric
Inpatient
0
Home Care
3
Day Care
0
Unspecified
0
Total
3
Grand Total
3
Current Projects
No palliative care projects, not yet operational services, are known to exist in Belarus.
Known hospice/ palliative care projects (2002)
Adult
Inpatient - Hospital
0
- Hospice
0
Home Care
0
Unspecified
0
Total
0
Paediatric
Hospital
0
Hospice
0
Home Care
0
Unspecified
0
Total
0
Grand Total
0
There are 3 paediatric home care services in Belarus: at the centre is the Belarusian Children's Hospice (BCH) in Minsk; it also has satellite services in Gomel and Brest, opened in September 1999.
The work of the Belarusian Children's Hospice (BCH) in Minsk has been well described in published and unpublished reports. It became operational in October 1994 with a range of services: 'medical, social and psychological aid to fatally ill children and their families at home; a "pilot program" of medical home care for children in villages outside Minsk and in other cities; support program for siblings; clown therapy; a bereavement program; education program in palliative care.'2 The medical staff of 2 physicians and 4 nurses provide 24-hour cover 7 days per week; they also have access to specialists in neurology, onco-haematology and anaesthesiology and co-operate officially with two hospital paediatric centres in Minsk. Other staff at BCH include a psychologist, 5 social workers, a driver/mechanic, an accountant and an administrator. There are 25 volunteers working within the team. The patients of BCH range in age from new-born babies to 18 years; some 66% of the children have cancer, but among the remainder there is a variety of other non-malignant conditions, such as cerebral palsy, myopathies, immune deficiency, renal and liver pathology. The number of patients cared for ranges from just 4 in the closing months of 1994 to 73 in 1998, and a total over the period of 118. Of these children, 74 died, 96% of them at home.
Education
The creation of an educational centre for palliative care is also under consideration. Since 1998 BCH has provided courses in the palliative care of children for a wide variety of health and social care professionals. It has already made available translations of a number of key palliative care texts and pamphlets.
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