2016-09-30-noticia-ICS-mario-lopez

El Salvador has a new project to attend to the most seriously ill patients: a care center that attends to the patient and family and trains palliative care professionals. This was explained by Mario Lopez Saca, professor of Palliative Medicine at the Dr. Jose Matias Delgado University in El Salvador, at a lecture organized by the ATLANTES Program of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra. The activity is supported by partnership of the Obra Social 'La Caixa' and Fundación Bancaria Caja Navarra.

The care center will be built in San Salvador, capital of the country, in an altruistic way thanks to the Paliamed Foundation. It is formed by a group of professionals who seek to "promote in El Salvador palliative care, through centers, but with a commitment to the training of the professionals who work there and the care not only of the patient but also of the family and caregivers," said López Saca, also a member of the association.

According to the expert, in El Salvador the partnership of several NGOs and volunteers in hospitals is common. Among them, he highlighted a group of volunteers who provide spiritual and existential financial aid in the Benjamin Bloom children's hospital - "the only hospital that attends all the children with cancer in the country"-. From agreement with the expert, thanks to his influence, a space for five beds is being managed to provide palliative care for sick children.

"I dream of a postgraduate program in palliative care."

On the other hand, Lopez Saca spoke of the challenges facing El Salvador in relation to palliative care. "The Ministry of Health is now working on a National Palliative Care Plan," he explained. Two more pain and palliative care units will also be opened in two public hospitals. In addition, in 2017 the Dr. José Matías Delgado University will include, as mandatory, the subject Palliative Medicine.

However, this medical discipline is not yet consolidated in the country, said López Saca: "The next challenge is to generate training programs at the undergraduate level and postgraduate program". He assured that El Salvador has great palliative medicine professionals trained in foreign universities, such as the University of Navarra. "It is better that, as long as there is no specialization program in the country, the doctor goes abroad for training. Then, when he/she returns, he/she will be of more financial aid", he emphasizes.      

"I dream of a postgraduate program in palliative care, but for this to happen, the care units must be fully consolidated," concluded the expert.

Mario López Saca is a professor of Palliative Medicine at the Universidad José Matías Delgado in El Salvador, has been researcher visitor in the ATLANTES Program at Institute for Culture and Society and is part of the association of Bioethics of El Salvador.

López Saca's talk is part of the series of colloquia 'Palliative Care on Three Continents', organized by the ATLANTES Program, the School of Medicine at the University of Navarra and the Navarra Society for Palliative Care. They will be held from September 7 to October 5 at the high school Oficial de Médicos de Navarra to present palliative care programs from around the world.