For the first time in Moldova, the palliative services will be included in the basic services provided in the national health system. The MPs on November 20 gave a first reading to a bill to amend the Law on Health Protection, IPN reports.

The MPs who drafted the bill said the right to palliative care should form part of the minimum free health insurance services provided within the financial possibilities of the mandatory health instance funds. A distinct subprogram for palliative care should be created as part of the spending programs of the mandatory health instance funds.

Simultaneously, it is proposed approving the nomenclature of palliative care services, the regulations for organizing and providing palliative care services and the minimum palliative care quality standards.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care as 'an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.