Self-help for victims
In a bid to improve the quality of life of patients with serious diseases such as cancer, the National Health Security Office yesterday launched a new peer-to-peer programme to get patients and their relatives to help each other.
Called the "Centre for Friendship Therapy", the programme involves 14 large medical institutions which will form a patients' club in their clinics for people suffering from serious illness. These include Siriraj, Ramathibodi and Lerdsin Hospitals plus the National Cancer Institute, which signed an agreement yesterday to carry out the project. "This is a prototype of making a centre for information exchange and psychological support among patients and their caretakers to help each other cope with difficulties in the face of serious diseases," said Professor Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, the dean of Siriraj Hospital. An American study had found only 20 per cent of patients had recovered from their illnesses solely from medical treatment, yet up to 80 per cent had recovered with the help and kindness of other people in addition to medication, noted intellectual Dr Prawes Wasi said. "Sometimes, because of their workloads, doctors and nurses just don't have the time to give advice and personal moral support," said Dr Sa-nguan Nitayarumphong, the head of the National Health Security Office. It has been proved that some forms of peer-to-peer therapy have worked very well in improving the quality of life of patients with chronic diseases. - The Nation
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