Religious organizations could help patients live with disease, according to former president Roza Otunbayeva.

At the Worldwide Day Against Cancer forum, former president of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva stated her belief that religious organizations and religion could help patients live with debilitating diseases.

Otunbayeva believes that in it is necessary to develop palliative care in Kyrgyzstan and other countries. “Undoubtedly, palliative care demands great effort on the part of government healthcare systems, and only governments of developed nations have been able to provide such care to all in need. I believe that [in Kyrgyzstan] palliative care could be provided by religious organizations [in the absence of government reach]. As a young and dynamic religion, Islam must learn to provide services, rather than simply forcing women to wear headscarves or forbidding behaviors uncharacteristic of our society,” she stated.

According to Ms. Otunbayeva, religion should accompany someone not only in health, but in need as well.