AT THE HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL ASIAN CONGRESS

 Representatives of Hong Kong were among the participants of the International Nurses’ Congress taken place on October 30, 2015 in Stepanakert. To strengthen the cooperation even more, they invited the RA and NKR representatives to the congress organized in their country.  ties of the work involved and the representatives of the Congress to be held in their country. The six-member delegation (5 people from Armenia and one - from Artsakh), led by Director of Erebuni Armenian-American State Medical College, chief specialist in nursing Alina Kushkyan, left for Hong Kong to participate in the congress dedicated to the activities of palliative care centers and hospices.

Being informed of the recent events in our country, especially the war in early April, the Hong Kong representatives warmly welcomed Lilya Movsisyan, noting that they were well aware of the reality and hoped that the NKR would be finally recognized as a free and independent state. They noted that the city-state of Hong Kong had passed a hard way - being part of China or a British colony, it is currently recognized as a separate state.

The congress comprised representatives of the US, China, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Macau, and Georgia. Separate seminar were organized; the participants visited a medical college supplied with modern equipment, as well as different medical establishments, getting acquainted with the up-to-date methods of palliative care, hospices supplied with new facilities, and the present-day forms of terminally ill patients' care. Visiting every day the noted establishments, the congress participants got acquainted with the modern standards of care for patients suffering from cancer and witnessed some programs on rendering psychological support to the patients.

According to Lilya Movsisyan, the palliative care is carried out in Hong Kong through both the state and sponsors' support. There are people turning their houses into hospices. A woman named Maggie, suffering from cancer, built a comfortable house and made it a hospice. After her death, terminally ill patients get adequate care and psychological support here. «The palliative care method is an extremely important support for these patients. In special conditions, they spend their last days with dignity. Nurses in hospices conduct great psychological and social works. This is a very interesting and important program, which we haven't yet got in Artsakh. In this regard, the congress was very useful, interesting, and impressive», said Laura Movsisyan.

Zarine MAYILYAN