Working women will have to undergo cytology and mammography – they envisage draft amendments to the Acts on Healthcare Benefits and the Labor Code, prepared by the Ministry of Health. They were referred to public consultations.
Women between the ages of 25 and 59 will have to undergo a Pap smear (test to find cervical cancer) at periodic checkups. Ladies aged 50 to 69 will also need to have a mammogram (a screening for breast cancer).
The National Health Fund is to cover the costs of research. The details of their implementation will be specified in the regulation of the minister of health.
Work on the introduction of compulsory mammography and cytology has been underway at the Ministry of Health since 2008. Initially, they were also to be performed at the initial examinations before starting work. The health ministry withdrew from this proposal.
Poland has one of the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in Europe. Every year 2 die of it. women. Detecting lesions that threaten with cervical cancer or early neoplastic changes in the cervix is possible thanks to regular pap smear tests.
The data from the National Health Fund show that the vast majority of Polish women do not take advantage of free preventive examinations. In 2007, the National Health Fund sent over 2,7 million invitations to breast cancer screening tests (mammography) and over 6 million invitations to cervical cancer tests (cytology). Only 23,5 percent applied for the first of these studies. invited, and the second – only 7,5 percent.
Meanwhile, specialists emphasize that cervical and breast cancers detected in the early stages are easily cured – in over 90 percent. cases. (PAP)