There is an incredibly large wave of new cancer diagnoses emerging, and healthcare professionals are on the verge. People are begging for help – oncologists from the University Hospital in Krakow alerted on Thursday.
- Last year, 20 percent were recognized. fewer tumors – oncologists are alarming. Patients fell ill but did not report to doctors for fear of COVID-19
- Doctors from the University Hospital in Krakow assume that this year it will be 40 percent. more cancer diagnoses than last year. “We anticipate the overlap of two patient years – from last year and this year,” said the head of the Clinical Oncology Department, Prof. Piotr Wysocki
- The staff of the University Hospital explains that their facility is at the limit of its efficiency. – We receive calls and e-mails that are difficult to read, in which people beg for help, write that there is no one to treat them – said prof. Wysocki
- “Among the last patients of the hospital there was an over twenty-year-old pregnant woman with advanced cancer – because no one has looked at her symptoms in recent months” – described the oncologist
- More similar information can be found on the TvoiLokony home page
“We have an extremely critical situation. We are in a situation in which we have never been and never seemed to be able to find ourselves. This conference is a scream, awareness and a cry for help because we are on the brink. It is just as difficult for many other centers, ”said the head of the Clinical Oncology Department, Prof. Piotr Wysocki.
As he reported, 20 percent were recognized last year. fewer tumors, but not because they were absent, but because they had not been diagnosed. “Now there is an incredibly large wave of new diagnoses,” he warned.
Doctors from the University Hospital in Krakow assume that this year it will be 40 percent. more cancer diagnoses than last year. “We anticipate the overlap of two patient years – from last and this year,” said the professor.
As he emphasized, patients who were “overlooked” a year ago will appear this year with a “bigger” cancer, requiring complex, multi-stage treatment.
- Poland: more and more malignant tumors
“The entire system has been at the limit of its performance for years. Due to the pandemic, it is now folding up like a house of cards “- said Prof. Wysocki.
In recent weeks, the number of new patients in SU consulted for immediate chemotherapy before surgery, because the operation cannot be performed quickly due to the size of the tumor, has increased three- or fourfold. “It’s unimaginable. It’s as if we could cover the ward with only new patients every two or three weeks, “said the oncologist and added:” We are not able to control it now. “
As he emphasized, during the pandemic, the hospital did not send patients home and was one of the few in the country that allowed the continuation of treatment for those who were stopped therapy by local centers because they were transformed into single-name hospitals or because of the staff shoulder. SU could admit patients thanks to the provision of rooms in the area of ul. Copernicus, on the premises of the former hospital.
“Although we were reducing the number of consultations as recommended, switching to teleporting, extending the intervals between consecutive chemotherapy courses, last year we had a similar number of patients (…). Those for whom we had reduced the number of consultations were replaced with those who pleaded for help, ”said the head of the Clinical Oncology Department.
- Prof. Flogging: We are unable to delay the onset of prostate cancer
As he informed, the department receives telephone calls and e-mails that are “hard to read”, in which people are begging for help, saying that there is no one to heal them. They are looking for help with crying, among others mothers of young children, young people – 20- and 30-year-olds. “Among the last patients of the hospital there was an over 20-year-old pregnant woman with advanced cancer – because no one has looked at her symptoms in recent months” – described the oncologist. There are people who will wait so long in front of the secretariat in the hospital until they are told that they will be helped.
A hospital pharmacy in a new, extended building is not doing well. Pharmacists are calling the hospital that they are unable to prepare more drugs – for example, while a year ago they could prepare 80-90 drugs for intravenous administration a day, now there is a need for 120-130.
“There are no pharmacists, no place to prepare drugs. There are no nurses administering it, “the professor enumerated, adding that recently many nurses at retirement age have left the hospital because they were” so dramatically burdened with so many patients. “
In the opinion of prof. Wysocki, the dramatic situation in SU is in a way a “consequence of the success” of this institution. In this hospital – as he said – doctors are not afraid to use combinations of oncological drugs, proprietary treatment regimens, which is not available in most centers. The Krakow SU accepts patients not only from Lesser Poland and Poland, but also from abroad – before the pandemic single people came here for chemotherapy, including from Great Britain and USA.
“We have been observing an increase in cancer incidence for many years. Now, cancers are more advanced than before the pandemic, ”emphasized Dr. Joanna Streb, MD, PhD, who is also a voivodship consultant in the field of oncology.
She paid particular attention to the lack of young oncologists. “Despite the increase in the pool for young residents – in the last two years, only three volunteers have signed up for more than 20 places,” she warned and added that sometimes oncologists are forced to refer a patient for a check-up to a family doctor.
- Colorectal cancer – what are the symptoms? [INFOGRAPHICS]
“There is a shortage of staff. Our efficiency is at the limit, ”she said.
The University Hospital in Krakow has the largest number of doctors in Małopolska, but in 2021 there are 4,2 thousand doctors per doctor in the oncology clinic in 2016. patients; in 2,6, there were XNUMX thous. patients per doctor.
The director of SU, Marcin Jędrychowski, asked for understanding from patients who feel that they have not been given enough time. “It’s not because someone was drinking coffee or because there is a bad organization, but because we are on the border; and other centers could be doing more, but they don’t, ‘he said.
Jędrychowski appealed to the government and all those who have an impact on the health service to ensure that the announced better financing of the health service should also be followed by the coordination of the health service.
“We’ll end up with health being a commodity,” said the director, pointing out that hospitals are being forced to compete for procedures that are most cost-effective.
“As a director, I do not accept the situation that I live in a country where it is more profitable to have a patient’s leg cut off than to undertake very complicated treatment by angiologists, specialists in metabolic diseases in order to save that leg. We give up treatment, because there is such a procedure, because treatment is a less profitable procedure than leg amputation, ”said Jędrychowski.
Annually, nearly 30 jobs go to the SU in Kraków. people with cancer, almost 100 thousand are provided. advice.
author: Beata Kołodziej
Read also:
- Doctors remember the famous oncologist. “Unimaginable, we are in powder”
- Can Early Breast Cancer Be Cured? Explains the oncologist
- These daily habits put you at risk for cancer
The content of the medTvoiLokony website is intended to improve, not replace, the contact between the Website User and their doctor. The website is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Before following the specialist knowledge, in particular medical advice, contained on our Website, you must consult a doctor. The Administrator does not bear any consequences resulting from the use of information contained on the Website. Do you need a medical consultation or an e-prescription? Go to halodoctor.pl, where you will get online help – quickly, safely and without leaving your home.