PRAGUE, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Under an European Union (EU)-funded project set to be launched in 2017, all hospitals in the Czech Republic could start providing palliative care for terminally ill patients after 2020, said Czech Deputy Health Minister Roman Prymula on Thursday.
The project will set the form of palliative care and its coverage from health insurance. The pilot phase of palliative care to be tested at several healthcare facilities, said Prymula at a press conference.
Prymula said in many cases, when current medicine is not able to cure a person, palliative medicine could be started. It should provide the patients a decent departing from life.
According to Prymula, the European project would set the functioning of hospital palliative care and its possible connection with home care. The project is supposed to run until 2020. Afterwards, this scheme should work in all hospitals.
As of next year, the doctors and nurses' care of the terminally ill in their homes should be included in the directive on the financial coverage of health care and insurance companies would cover it. A lump sum per day should be paid.
Palliative care is comprehensive care for the terminally ill and dying patients. It does not focus on healing but to ease pain, which is important for the patient's quality of life. It also includes psychological support and assistance to relatives.
Czech Republic has a population of 10.5 million with about 105,000 people die annually, and more than 70,000 of them need palliative care.
