ASIA/PAKISTAN - St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital, Pakistan, at the forefront in the country for the care of cancer patients
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. Elizabeth 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 40,000 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", said Columban Fr Robert McCulloch, who spent over 30 years in Pakistan. He was chairman of the administration Council of the hospital for many years.
Fr McCulloch has become a proponent of a medical outreach program, that assists more than 40,000 patients annually and promoter of the first centre 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 the High Commission’s support for St. Elizabeth Hospital and noted the high level of medical care achieved, confirming that it is a place of "significant service to the common good in Pakistan". (PA) (Source: Agenzia Fides 22/04/2016)
Columban Fr Robert McCulloch was a missionary in Pakistan for 34 years. He is currently the Procurator General of the Society of St Columban in Rome.