According to her, only about 40 pharmacies in the country are authorized to dispense narcotic analgesics and psychotropic drugs. "The number of such pharmacies is extremely limited. People in need of pain relief are forced to travel significant distances to obtain the necessary medications. There is also a problem known as morphinophobia, both among patients and doctors, which is explained by a lack of information and a low level of training for specialists in this field," Turgunalieva added.
As an example of access to medications, she shared the story of a girl from Sokuluk whose mother suffered from severe pain. Every two days, she had to travel to Bishkek for narcotic analgesics, as there were no pharmacies in Sokuluk that dispensed such medications. There was also no possibility to hospitalize her in a medical facility.
Turgunalieva noted that a project is currently being developed to improve the provision of palliative care, which, if adopted, could resolve many existing issues in this area.
Photo on the main page is illustrative: scmp.com.
