Mary Lou Hathaway, an American hospice nurse from Kansas City, USA has conducted two travelling fellowships to Kyrgyzstan, in 1999 and 2000, supported on the second occasion by the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care. She established good links and conducted training and education sessions in the Oncology Institute of the country’s capital city, Bishkek. Her work is part of a wider partnership within the American International Health Alliance, which has formed strong links between the University of Kansas Medical Center and a number of Institutes and hospitals in Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health:

‘A patient with advanced disease, whose family could no longer care for her was left in the garden on the grounds of the hospital. And thus the hospice unit at the Oncology Institute in Bishkek began. The Institute staff took her in and cared for her until she died. They recognised the community’s need for such a place and dedicated a unit to specialized care of patients with advanced disease. The unit has blossomed into a busy palliative care unit under the direction of nurses and physicians. Much has been accomplished in one year under difficult conditions. The newly painted unit is attractive, and large windows and plants make the rooms quite pleasant. Volunteers visit with patients and write letters for them. Chaplains counsel patients. Social work students will soon train on the hospice unit. Nursing students serve a rotation there. Patients come and go spending as much time as possible.’¹⁹

The Kyrgyz Republic Ministry of Health is said to support the development of palliative care services and it is reported that a national policy and guidelines exist.²⁰