Staff Reporter
PALLIATIVE Care Namibia (PCN), a division of the Cancer Association of Namibia (CAN), has officially launched the Palliative Care Fund (PCF) to improve access to palliative and hospice care for financially vulnerable Namibians.
Operating under the same administrative and policy guidelines as CAN’s Patient Financial Assistance Programme, the PCF is specifically focused on raising funds for those in critical need of end-of-life care, including medication and nursing support.
“We receive numerous requests for nursing and medication support for palliative and hospice care,” said Rolf Hansen, CEO of CAN and Palliative Care Namibia.
Regretfully, CAN and PCN cannot provide these services free of charge due to the high cost of medical consumables, medications, and the remuneration of professional medical teams.
With CAN’s existing Patient Financial Assistance Fund—budgeted at N$2 million for the current financial year—already overextended, the establishment of the Palliative Care Fund has become essential to address these critical needs.
Hansen said that Palliative Care Namibia is calling on the corporate community and the public to support efforts to open the state patient wing at House Zietsman of Palliative Care Namibia. This facility will accommodate up to nine financially vulnerable, critically terminal patients, providing them with the same quality care as private patients.
“To fund medicine, consumables, and meals for these patients, and to grow the welfare arm of Palliative Care Namibia, financial support for the Palliative Care Fund is urgently needed,” Hansen emphasized.
He added that the Cancer Association of Namibia’s programme funds cannot be diverted to support the palliative care patient support programme; therefore, direct investments from donors are essential to sustain this initiative for financially vulnerable Namibians.
House Zietsman of Palliative Care Namibia, a subsidiary of CAN, is located at 3 Jan Jonker Road in Windhoek.
