HCA Hospice Care (HCA) is a registered charity in Singapore providing comfort and support to patients with life-limiting illnesses. HCA is dedicated to serve her patients 24 hours, round-the-clock.
Following is a summary of Dr Naing, a palliative doctor at HCA Hospice care who received 27 calls in a night on one occasion, yet the requests at odd hours never deters him from pursuing his passion.
“In the middle of the night, I had to go down to the patient’s house to sign the CCOD (Certificate of Cause of Death). On a separate night, I was called just to fulfil the request of a patient whose back was itching and wanted a massage,” says Dr Naing. On average, 5 patients in HCA passes each day, the number of deaths the doctors have to face is unimaginable.
Though it may be distressing to deal with the topic of death and revealing a patient’s prognosis, he handles it with love, truthfulness and sensitivity, winning the hearts of his patients.
“The beauty of a home hospice service is that when I see my patients at home, I see the environment and the reality of their lives.” As a home hospice doctor, visits are scheduled according to the patients, unlike a structured hospital, where it depends on the availability of the doctor.
To Dr Naing, money is important but it is not everything. “I have lost my trousers many times due to bed bugs in houses of the less fortunate and this is reality. I may be a medical practitioner but I do not own a car. “Life cannot be perfect. You can’t get everything you want but to find meaning in life through your profession, that’s where I am,” says Dr Naing.
Please feel free to drop an email at communications@hcahospicecare.org.sg if you have any words of encouragement!
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