On 8th December, 2020 it was published in the Official Gazette and entered into force the Law on amending the Law on health care no. 411/1995. It provides that palliative care is part of the health system: “Palliative care is the provision of health services for the active and complex support of patients whose disease no longer responds to curative treatment.”
These changes have been made possible by the combined efforts of the People’s Advocate Office with NGOs from this field and experts who have assisted the Ombudsman in drawing up recommendations to the authorities, intended to improve the situation in the field of palliative care in the Republic of Moldova.
In recent years, the People’s Advocate Office has actively promoted proposals for the inclusion of palliative care in the health system, in particular in the annual reports.
Palliative care and the catastrophic situation in this field was the subject of a thematic report of the People’s Advocate made public in 2019 (http://ombudsman.md/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/RAPORT_PALIATIVE.pdf). Among made recommendations were those on improving legislation in the field.
Currently in the Republic of Moldova, there are about 26,000 people in need of palliative care. The changes produced will allow the improvement of their quality of life, the improvement of their physical condition by relieving the pain, the treatment of the incurable patients with the observance of their human dignity.
