Making life less painful for the dying

TNP PICTURE: MELISSA CHUE

Miss Charmaine Chia, 27, would not have suffered excruciating pain before she died from stage 4 kidney cancer if her family had known about palliative care.

As many as two-thirds of Singaporeans do not know what hospices do or what palliative care is.

And only a quarter of about 17,000 people who die in Singapore each year receive palliative care in a hospice, nursing home or at home.

The Singapore Hospice Council is not only in the thick of a Community Outreach Programme to create awareness among the public but is organising its 5th Palliative Care Conference this weekend to reach out to medical professionals.