About Coast Hospice
Coast Hospice provides care for cancer patients in Mombasa, Kenya. It is a registered charity and began operations in August 2001. It is currently hosted at the Amenity Wing of the Coast General Hospital.
The primary aim of the Hospice is:-
- To provide palliative care for the terminally ill cancer patients in the Coast Province region through out-patient, home-based and day-care services.
- To counsel, support and train the families of the terminally ill patients on how to care for the patient in a home setting, which is familiar and comforting.
- To promote the training/ educational programs in palliative care for health care professionals, health care workers and other volunteers working in the Coast Province.
Prior to August 2001 the Coast Province lacked these essential services hence compelling some terminally ill patients to travel to Nairobi in search of medical care. Many of these patients were unable to get treatment earlier due to financial constraints. In this regard, a small group of volunteers agreed to look into modalities aimed at establishing a Coast Hospice complete with a palliative care team.
The group facilitated the training of a doctor, Clinical Officers and two nurses in palliative care at the Nairobi Hospice and thereafter approached Dr K Shikely - Chief Administrator of Coast General Hospital - for space to enable them offer these services. The hospital management was kind enough to host the team and thus allocate two rooms at the Amenity Wing, where the Hospice has been operating since August 2001.
Since its inception, the Hospice has been able to provide care to over 275 patients. On average the Hospice attends to 25 patients every week through the out-patient services and 6 patients through home visits. On average, a cancer patient requires KShs 1,500/= per month for pain management and other disease symptoms control. Though this figure is based on highly subsidized prices of drugs, most patients cannot afford because they come from very poor backgrounds.
Currently, other hospices exist in Nairobi, Nyeri, Eldoret, Kisumu and Meru.