Written by: Dr Wah Wah Myint Zu, Radiation Oncologist, Radiotherapy Department, Yangon General Hospital, Myanmar
Our last module of the Training-of-Trainers in Palliative Care Program for Myanmar is from 11.1.16 to 15.1.16.
It is quite a coincidence!
When we have the very first day of our 6th and last module in Yangon General Hospital, there was also the National Seminar on Comprehensive Oncology Services held at Nay Pyi Daw on 11 Jan 2016. This National Cancer Forum is attended by all the admin person and policy maker from Ministry of Health, almost all the radiation oncologists and medical oncologists from both government and private hospitals, Academic Institutions involved in training the health professionals, NGO like Shwe Yaung Hnin Si Cancer foundation etc . The Chairperson of APHN and Lead faculty of the Lien Collaborative for Palliative Care project, Prof Cynthia Goh, give a speech on the Implementation of Palliative Care in Cancer Service. We heard a good news that all the attendee are very much interest in Palliative care and they appreciate the hard work and enthusiasm of APHN for the establishment of Palliative care Service in Myanmar. The meeting identified as a priority the setting up of Palliative Care services as part of Comprehensive Oncology Services in Myanmar. In addition, the World Health Organisation has identified the setting up of Palliative Care services as part of Universal Health Coverage and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) management.
At training center, Yangon General Hospital,all the faculty members and the trainee are excited .and active since the very first day. We are thrilled to share knowledge and experience of our palliative practice within previous six months to the faculty members and each other.
During the last module of training of trainers, faculty members encourage and teach us the different methods of teaching like lectures, case-based discussions, large group and small group teaching and usage of role play. I think this is a good topic for the trainees who will become trainers in near future. We also discussed about spiritual care, spirituality, self-care and the ethical dilemma. Our faculty members cover a wide range of Palliative care topics and also revise about many important issues in Palliative care like Difficult Pain, wound care, colostomy care, communication etc. Dr Aye Aye Naing and I shared our learning and experience from the fellowship training program in Division of Palliative Medicine, National Cancer Center of Singapore as part of the Lien Collaborative for Palliative Care project. All the participants are interested to hear about the Palliative care service in Singapore.
Prof Cynthia Goh said that the faculty members are like parents who are excited but concerned for their offspring who will now start to fly out from their nest but they know their children will be fine as their kids are well equipped and trained and parents are always there to support them. These warm words make us teary and touched our hearts.
Professor Myint Thaung , Head and Professor of Orthopedic surgical department and President of Myanmar chapter in ISEAPs, said that he will fully support the establishment of Palliative care service and Palliative care education and encourage us to try our best in serving our patients with Palliative care.
Upon thanking notes, I said we owe the deep sense of gratitude to the Prof Myint Thaung, Prof Cynthia Goh, all the faculty members and APHN for the difference made by Palliative care TOT program during three years training .We are changed by the knowledge of the value added Palliative care and we want to give Holistic and interdisciplinary Palliative care approach to our patients to promote their quality of life. We also want to share that precious knowledge and experience to all our health care personnel and so we are interested in palliative care education.
With deep sense of gratitude, we give our remarkable Myanmar traditional souvenirs to all the faculty members and project manager of APHN .The last module of TOT program is successfully concluded by proudly awarding the completion certificates to all the participants.
Although the training is the last module, I think it is the beginning of our Palliative journey. All the participants are excited and thrilled to have empowerment and dedicated for trying our best in establishing Palliative care service in our own hospitals.