KUCHING: The National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM) Sarawak Branch, in collaboration with the Malaysian Hospice Council (MHC), is organising the 14th Malaysian Hospice Council Congress (MHCC2020) which will be held from July 24-26 next year.
Themed ‘Palliative Care: Building Compassionate Communities’, the national conference will be attended by more than 600 delegates from all over Malaysia, as well as from neighbouring countries.
Invited speakers comprise experts in the field of palliative care from India, Australia, The Netherlands, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The co-organisers are Two Tree Lodge, Kuching and the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Sarawak Branch, supported by Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB), Sarawak Health Department and Karuna (digital partner).
The congress aims to bring together various people involved in hospice and palliative care to share their experiences, provide a premier interdisciplinary platform for practitioners of hospice and palliative care to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends and concerns, as well as practical challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the fields of hospice and palliative care.
The organising committee held a meeting chaired by Kuching South City mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng at the MBKS here yesterday.
A statement from the organising committee said the congress also aimed at enabling networking among people and organisations involved in hospice and palliative care; enhancing awareness of hospice and palliative care in Sarawak and providing an opportunity for more people from Sarawak to learn from the experts.
The congress will be useful for doctors, nurses, medical academia and undergraduates/ postgraduates, as well as allied health professionals and hospice/ volunteers/ carers. Registration opens on Jan 1 next year and delegates who register on or before April 30 only need to pay RM250 registration fee. Those who register after this date will pay the standard registration fee of RM400.
The congress will provide an excellent opportunity for local health personnel to access the latest knowledge and information in this field from international experts, without having to incur high cost of travelling outside Sarawak for similar events.
It will also provide an opportunity for government and non-government agencies involved in palliative care to understand each other better so that they work together to develop a much needed community palliative care programme for Sarawak.
