Evolution of pain management services in Nepal

Abstract

Pain is one of the most common symptoms of patients visiting the hospital. The prevalence of chronic pain is estimated to be around 30%. Pain management service is a separate service provided by healthcare institutions to manage such chronic pain and has become essential service in most of the countries. Nepal has also started to provide services for patients with chronic pain through pain management clinics. To start such a service in a resource-poor country like Nepal was not an easy task. It took a long time for the physicians, the society as well as the health authorities to realize the need to make such a service available in Nepal. The establishment of such pain clinics is gaining momentum and more qualified pain physicians are being produced now. This article describes briefly, the journey of developing pain management services in Nepal from infancy to maturity.

Key words: Nepal; Pain; Pain management; Pain clinic

Citation: Shrestha A, Amatya R, Shrestha N. Evolution of developing pain management services in Nepal. Anaesth. pain intensive care 2020;24(4):463-466.

Received: 9 January 2020, Reviewed: 18 February 2020, Accepted: 22 February 2020