On July 10th 2014, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, and the Portuguese Association for Palliative Care signed a collaboration agreement  for Palliative Care.

‘It is with great pride that I sign, along with the Dean of FMUL, a collaboration agreement which could not be excluded from the series of partnerships of the Portuguese Association for Palliative Care (APCP) as it was here that its great development started, taking on the role it now has in the Palliative Care area,’ stated Dr. Manuel Luís Capelas, chairman of the APCP, during his intervention in the formal sitting in the Workshop “Research in Palliative Care”, in which the document was signed.

Professor José Fernandes e Fernandes also remarked that it is ‘with great satisfaction’ that he signed the collaboration agreement with APCP. ‘It is always very positive to see our dreams fulfilled, in some way,’ he stated. Professor José Fernandes e Fernandes also recalled that, in the south of the country, Santa Maria Hospital and the Faculty of Medicine were pioneer institutions in fostering a centre of medical intervention in Palliative Care. ‘We hope it can be expanded and I am sure it is going to happen in this hospital,’ he added in his speech.

This collaboration agreement’s goal is to support a combined effort for the development of Palliative Care, promoting meetings to share knowledge and experience.

Professor António Barbosa, Director of the Bioethics Centre of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon (FMUL) and Coordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at the Bioethics Centre stated ‘the Palliative Care area is becoming stronger in the sense that there is greater research in this area’ and that ‘in the papers presented, the quality of the research was very noticeable and it can well be compared to that of any civilized country, which shows we are on the right track. It is with pride that I witnessed the debate of these works.’

In this workshop, some of the current studies, which are leading up to Ph.D. and M.A. projects, were made available to the public.

Every year a day is dedicated to the research in the Palliative Care area, which is organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Chair/FMUL in Palliative Care.
Editorial team
news@medicina.ulisboa.pt