Palliative care remains an undeveloped and under resourced area of healthcare in the Palestinian Authority. There are, however, several dedicated oncologists and also PFS volunteers who strive wherever possible, often against the odds, to provide some palliative and psychosocial support for cancer patients at the end of life.

There are concerns at the lack of palliative care training and the subsequent lack of awareness of needs. Senior oncologist Dr Abdel Rassaq Salhab has explained that he had to develop his palliation skills, in the form of pain relief and symptom control, by attending international seminars and short training courses abroad. As he noted there is a need for: ‘a national programme of palliative care and to have a dedicated society for hospice care’.³⁵

Efforts by MECC and PFS since the early 2000s offer some opportunities for greater awareness of the need for specialist care and training at undergraduate and professional level.

Dr Fouad Sabatin describes his hopes for the future:

‘What I would really want to see change is to have a team approach for cancer care, to have more resources. We have a lot of trouble giving chemotherapy so I hope that in the future we can give chemotherapy easier, and hope that the radiation and oncology unit starts running very soon. And when it comes to palliative care medicine, I really hope that we can come to an agreement with the Israeli people who can give me some authority to write prescriptions and I hope that somehow the price for morphine is not as high as it is now because I think it is one of the basic medicines and should not be expensive. And also I’d love for my patients to have all the options available for patients who are intolerant of morphine; to have the opportunity to resort to Fentanyl patches, to Oxycodone and sometimes methadone. Also I’d really love to witness the day when we would have a hospice program here. So as you see, we have a lot of things to look forward to.’³⁶