ASIA/PAKISTAN - St. Elisabeth Catholic hospital at the forefront in the country for the care of cancer patients

Friday, 22 April 2016 healthcare   local churches   religious minorities  

Missionary Society of St. Columban

Hyderabad (Agenzia Fides) - A special unit that provides home palliative care to cancer patients, with pain control therapy, has recently opened, and this is the first experience at a national level: the St. Elisabeth Catholic Hospital in Hyderabad, established in 1958, is a precious institution for the territory of the city of Sindh province, and throughout Pakistan, and "provides the best possible care at the lowest possible cost". It assists more than 40 thousand patients a year, of all religions, Muslims, Hindus and Christians, thanks to the professionalism, to structures and high level machinery. "And above all takes care of the needy, rural communities, those who have socio-economic problems, poor families", notes to Fides Fr. Robert Mc Culloch, a Missionary from St. Columban for over 30 years in Pakistan, who for years was chairman of the administration Council of the hospital.
Fr. Mc Culloch has become a proponent of a medical outreach program and promoter of the first center for palliative care in Pakistan, assisting the terminally ill even at home. "Catholic Doctors and nurses establish relations of cordiality and good will" he says. "Thanks to the care and the work of the hospital, the Church of Pakistan is seen not as a foreign body in society, but as a community that is an integral part, that helps to cure wounds: This work helps to improve relations of peace, dialogue and harmony in society", he explains. The hospital recently received a visit from Margaret Adamson, Australian High Commissioner for Pakistan, who has renewed her support to the structure and noted the high scientific level achieved, confirming that it is a place of "significant service to the common good in Pakistan". (PA) (Agenzia Fides 22/04/2016)


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