Re-education at the service of cancer patients

Physical and rehabilitation medicine is a medical specialty that has proven its usefulness at the global level, in terms of care and social integration of disabled people. It is in this context that the physical and rehabilitation medicine service in collaboration with the medical oncology service of the Hassan II University Hospital Centre (CHU) is organising, today, at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Fes, the second Day of physical and rehabilitation medicine on the theme "Oncological re-education and rehabilitation". With a national incidence estimated at 35,000 new cases per year, cancer does not cease to grow in Morocco. Furthermore, the after-effects of this disease and the various treatments have significant consequences on the quality of life of patients, their autonomy, their social life, and their professional reintegration. Faced with this situation and as affirmed by Prof. Hajjioui, a doctor at the Hassan II CHU, specialist in physical and rehabilitation medicine and member of the organising committee, the needs for rehabilitation are very significant and it must be expected that they will increase over the coming years. "This alarming observation justifies the choice of the theme of oncological re-education and rehabilitation for this event in its second edition.

Indeed, oncological rehabilitation does not only concern patients who benefit from long survival or who are cured, but extends to the whole spectrum of the evolution of the disease to include patients in the course of curative treatment, those who live with an advanced disease, and patients at the end of life," he explains.

And he adds, "this scientific meeting on oncological rehabilitation, organised for the first time in Morocco and even in the Maghreb, will allow our country to be among the world pioneers in the field of re-education and rehabilitation of cancer patients. It will also allow for the establishment of recommendations concerning the care of cancer patients at the stage of re-education, rehabilitation, and reintegration". Bringing together French and Moroccan teachers and researchers, involved in the care of people affected by oncological pathologies at various stages of the disease, this day thus constitutes the opportunity to take stock of recent scientific data and the international situation of oncological re-education and rehabilitation and to better know the various achievements and projects in the different countries, to reach a common concept between all the actors concerned.

The challenge to be met for Prof. Hajjoui is to ensure that oncological re-education and rehabilitation become an integral part of the care of oncological patients at the different stages of the disease. "The starting point is a global evaluation allowing for the highlighting of needs in terms of re-education and rehabilitation, and to propose coordinated programmes adapted, stationary or ambulatory. It is important that the development of oncological rehabilitation be done with a concern for continuity and coherence of care, according to the needs of patients, without creating artificial boundaries between support care, palliative care, and rehabilitation," he indicates.

Physical and rehabilitation medicine is an emerging medical specialty and very little known in our country. Its main target is any pathological situation that causes physical and/or mental disability. At the level of the Fes-Boulmane region, which has more than 1.5 million inhabitants, 80,000 disabled people require care in physical and rehabilitation medicine. This region has three doctors specialising in physical and rehabilitation medicine, an assistant professor, a specialist in the public sector, and a specialist in the private sector. The Provincial Hospital Centre has a few hospitalisation beds (about ten), and a mobile team composed of 15 physiotherapists, which remains, however, very insufficient to meet the needs of disabled people at the level of the region, in terms of physical and rehabilitation medicine.

Provider / Source : Afaf Razouki, Le Matin