Tashkent's hospice project faces five-year delay – Oncologist Yahyo Ziyaev calls for action

"The regional hospice for Uzbekistan was supposed to be completed in 2019 - it's 5 years behind schedule! Honestly, my hope to change anything within my competence in my field in this country is diminishing. I’m almost at a point to say "Come on, do I even need this?" writes Yahyo Ziyaev.

According to him, during the meeting held in November 2023 at the Supreme Assembly, the Tashkent city administration had promised to complete the works by April 2024.

"Here comes April. Where’s the fulfillment of the promise? A week ago, Rustam (oncologist doctor Rustam Norboev) and I visited the site. Nothing had started. They told us it would start on Monday, next week. Well, alright, if they finish it late, it's still a win for us, so I didn't take it negatively," the doctor writes.

He reports that the hospice whose construction is being delayed is not just any building, but is supposed to serve as a methodological center for all hospices in Uzbekistan.

This means that algorithms and mechanisms for providing comfort and alleviating the suffering of people spending their last moments of life will be developed and applied throughout Uzbekistan.

"The head of the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Association, Dr. Stephen Connor, is scheduled to visit Uzbekistan in May. We have decided to collaborate with him to develop palliative and hospice care in Uzbekistan. I have been conducting negotiations since November. Goodness gracious, how can we develop anything with nonexistent infrastructure?

I am out of words, only fury and disgust remain! Decision-makers – can you imagine how difficult it is to die in pain and torment? Can you understand what hopelessness and the inability to help means?" writes Yahyo Ziyaev.

For information: In the 2017 presidential decree aimed at improving oncological assistance to the population, it was noted that sections for providing palliative care within the structure of regional oncological institutions were to be established, as well as the creation of four regional hospices in the cities of Tashkent, Fergana, Samarkand, and Urgench.

According to Gazeta.uz, the opening of a hospice for adults in Tashkent was originally planned for 2019. As per the decision of the Committee for the Protection of Citizens' Health, the construction was estimated to cost 35 billion UZS. The project cost was stipulated in the contract signed between the engineering company "Yagona buyurtmachi xizmati" affiliated with Tashkent city administration, the chief designer "Lokomotiv Project" LLC, and the contractor "Comfort Engineering Group" LLC.

Despite delays, the completion of the hospice construction was promised by the first quarter of 2024. However, this deadline has also passed.

We remind you that according to the state program for 2024, by the end of the year, at least one hospice should be established in Tashkent, Nukus cities, and all regional centers of Uzbekistan based on demand, which will provide palliative care to patients with severe hematologic, oncologic, and clinical immunologic diseases.