KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — In a medical ward, Mat, a 59-year-old man with advanced lung cancer sits up in his bed. He has just had a course of radiotherapy for his cancer and is feeling some pain in his chest as well as feeling breathless.

On Mat’s left is a 64-year-old man with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a condition he has had for many years and getting worse. He is breathless with very minimal effort and his regular medication is not working as well as it used to.

To Mat’s right is a 47-year-old man who is in the hospital for the fourth time this year because of frequent shortness of breath and chest pains. Five years ago, he was diagnosed with heart failure and is struggling with the symptoms.

During the ward round, the doctor in charge spoke to all three of them about their illness and made some suggestions.

The next day, a palliative care physician came to the ward and spoke to Mat. The patient was asked how the cancer was affecting him, what symptoms were most troubling and what were the most important things that could make his life better. He was asked what he had been told, what he understood about his illness and where he wanted to be cared for.

Options for care were discussed and a plan agreed, together with Mat’s doctor.

With a few changes in his medication, Mat felt less breathless and pain was now hardly a problem. He was happy and plans were made for him to go home. A community palliative care service was contacted and Mat would continue to be supported by a community team, which included professional nurses and doctors, equipped with medications and available for emergency support.

After Mat left the ward, the other two patients looked at each other and asked their physician about palliative care. They said all of them had problems with breathing and wondered whether palliative care might also be useful for them. "What about me?” they asked their doctor.

Although much of the early emphasis of palliative care was for cancer patients, such care is appropriate for many other illnesses.

As palliative care focuses on the symptoms associated with life-threatening illness and works well with patients where their primary physician continues to provide disease modifying treatment, more and more such patients could benefit from palliative care.

There is an increasing body of evidence for the benefit of palliative care treatment for patients with HIV/ AIDS, various organ failures, motor neuron disease and Alzheimer’s disease. In some hospitals in other countries, there are specific palliative care services for such diseases.

Both the World Health Organisation’s Global Atlas of Palliative Care at the End of Life 2014 and Hospis Malaysia Palliative Care Needs Assessment 2016 illustrate the scope of illnesses that can benefit from palliative care.

Despite this, in Malaysia, very few patients with diseases other than cancer are referred for palliative care. Many palliative care services themselves are also hesitant to accept such patients.

Improving the standards and competency of palliative care services should improve access to its care.

Palliative care should never be a "luxury” option for cancer patients.

* Dr Ednin Hamzah is Hospis Malaysia chief executive officer