News

Syringe Pumps Available Free of Charge for Cancer Patients

03/01/2020

According to the Ministry of Health of Lithuania, starting on March 1, 2020, syringe infusion pumps will be available free of charge for the palliative care cancer patients. They will be compensated by the National Health Insurance Fund. It is wonderful news for the patients and their families going through hard times.

According to Giedrius Baranauskas, director of the Reimbursement of Orthopedics Department at the National Health Insurance Fund under the Ministry of Health, coverage of syringe pump use will give some comfort for the patients living with cancer. "Patients will have a choice to continue the treatment and manage their pain at home. During the hospital discharge they will have IV catheters inserted that will make the use of the pump convenient at home. Medicine for the external automatic infusion pumps will be prescribed by the family doctor," explained G. Baranauskas.

Such portable, battery operated devices deliver medication by continuous subcutaneous infusion when the oral route cannot be used for a patient and are of particular use in palliative care providing relief from the symptoms and stress at the end of person’s life.

Currently National Health Insurance Fund also covers oxygen tanks, lung ventilation devices and insulin pumps.

An initiative to bring first three pain management pumps to Lithuania's hospices was started in 2016 by Dr. Phillip Lomax from St. Ann's Hospice Manchester, UK and The Tiltas Trust, charity registered in the United Kingdom that was the brainchild of Michael Peart, the first UK Ambassador to Lithuania following the 1991 restoration of independence. Together with the Kazickas Family Foundation's help pumps were given to three hospices in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda.

In 2018, during her visit to Lithuania, Jurate Kazickas, together with Kaunas Clinics director for medical care Dr. Kestutis Stasaitis and Lithuanian Emergency Medicine Association director prof. Dinas Vaitkaitis met with viceminister for personal health at the Ministry of Health of Lithuania Lina Jaruseviciene to discuss few important projects they've been working on. During that visit syringe pain management pump availability for cancer patients was discussed as well. We are grateful to Lina Jaruseviciene for taking charge and implementing the effective solution to this issue.

Jurate Kazickas with Lina Jaruseviciene in 2018

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