Compared to the European Union, Poland is a country with a relatively low incidence, but high mortality from malignant neoplasms, according to a report prepared by the Institute of Healthcare. We need a long-term cancer strategy, experts say
The report Fighting cancer and oncological care in Poland in the face of demographic and epidemiological challenges – proposed solutions were presented on Wednesday during the meeting of the Parliamentary Team for Oncology.
Participating in the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Beata Małecka-Libera expressed her hope that the draft law on public health she was preparing will become a gateway that will enable a number of actions to fight cancer, including thanks to the National Health Program, which – as she emphasized – will certainly include issues related to oncology.
According to one of the authors of the report, Paweł Kalbarczyk, compared to the EU, Poland is a country with a still relatively low incidence, but high mortality from malignant neoplasms, especially among people under 65 years of age.
Kalbarczyk emphasized that, according to the National Cancer Register, 2011 people fell ill with cancer in 144 in our country. The most common cancer that Poles develop is tobacco-dependent lung cancer (approx. 336%), followed by breast cancer, colorectal cancer and prostate cancer. For many years, lung cancer has been in the first place in men, and breast cancer in women. Lung cancer is the cancer that causes the highest number of deaths in both men and women.
The report includes data indicating that Poland performs significantly worse compared to the EU countries in terms of treatment effectiveness. Depending on the location of the tumor, these differences range on average from a few to about 20% in terms of 5-year survival times. This means that a malignant neoplasm in Poland in many cases means even several dozen percent less chance of effective treatment than the EU average.
Significant differences are observed not only in international comparisons, but also in inter-voivodeship comparisons. This proves significant problems in terms of both the quality of cancer detection and the treatment of patients in individual provinces.
The report shows that the chances of winning the fight against these diseases in Poland, to a much greater extent than in other countries, depend on the place of residence. According to Kalbarczyk, this proves that cancer can be treated well and badly in Poland now.
The report indicates that Poland spends too much on hospitalization and not enough on systemic therapies or radiotherapy. This is confirmed by data from a cancer cost study conducted in 27 EU countries.
In 2009, the total costs of cancer in Poland accounted for about 1,22%. GDP. Total costs, direct and indirect, including the costs of informal care (provided by the closest cancer patients), amounted to over EUR 3,6 billion, of which medical costs amount to approximately EUR 1,4 billion.
In the presented study, a characteristic feature of medical expenses related to cancer treatment in Poland was the low level of expenditure on drugs (EUR 267 million), which was only 19 percent. of total medical costs, compared to 27 percent. average in the EU countries.
Poland spends only EUR 37 per capita annually on cancer treatment, compared to EUR 102 on average in the 27 EU countries.
Poland needs a consistently implemented, monitored and adequately modified long-term strategy, which will have a budget adequate to the needs – this is the main conclusion that was formulated in the report. However, as indicated by the authors of the study, it should not be spent mainly on investments in equipment and infrastructure, but on effective prevention and health education, training of medical staff and standardization of diagnostic and treatment procedures based on proven effectiveness in an adequate network of oncological treatment facilities.
As Kalbarczyk emphasized, an element of the implementation of such a strategy should be the development of maps of oncological needs for 2015–2035, as a starting point for the development and implementation of an optimal oncological care system at the level of – in the first place – voivodeships or regions, and in the second – the entire country.
According to the authors of the report, the optimal system of fighting cancer in Poland, serving healthy people and cancer patients, must be based on four interconnected principles – 4 x K: cooperation, coordination, comprehensiveness, competence.
For the fight against neoplastic diseases in Poland to be more effective than before, good coordination of activities is necessary, and thus strong institutional supervision over the implementation of the strategy, argue the authors of the report.