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880 days ago, the government of Beata Szydło and Konstanty Radziwiłł was appointed Minister of Health. Both have lost their jobs, but the situation of cancer patients has not changed. Every four minutes in Poland, someone learns that he has cancer. If he lived in the Czech Republic, Hungary or Slovakia, his chances of recovery would be greater. – We don’t want to die just because we were born in Poland! When will the rulers start to act? – charges of the Alivia Oncology Foundation ask politicians questions that they would prefer not to hear.
- Cancer has become the most common cause of death for Poles of working age
- Every year, 30 thousand Poles would not have died of cancer if they had been treated abroad
- Cancer patients hold the government accountable for unfulfilled promises
Paulina Dąbrowska is 29 years old and collects money for a procedure that could save her life. It is reimbursed in other countries, not in Poland. She is the mother of two and a half years old Tymek. Last year, she was diagnosed with a malignant breast tumor. – The fact that I fell ill is not a one-time act of my body, but a genetic burden. I have a gene mutation that increases my risk of breast cancer by up to 70 percent. and will stay with me for the rest of my life. I have been taking chemotherapy since December 2017. After chemotherapy, I will have an operation. At the National Health Fund, I can only remove and reconstruct a diseased breast, this is the law. And yet prophylactic removal of both is not my whim, but a fight for a normal life without the stigma of cancer – she says.
Patients have to ask for alms
– When will the rulers start to act? – ask the charges of the Alivia Cancer Foundation. The current government has announced many changes to the cancer treatment system, but has done nothing. Examples of inactivity include failure to fulfill the promise to finance prophylactic ovariectomy and breast amputation. Meanwhile, it costs over 50 thousand. zloty. Polish patients, after detecting a genetic mutation, are left with waiting for cancer. – The chance that I will get breast cancer again is 70 percent, and ovarian cancer – 40 percent. The only possible prophylaxis that gives a chance that the disease will not come back is a bilateral mastectomy – says Paulina Dąbrowska, who collects funds for such an operation. – I do not give up and I fight because I have someone to live for. I want to win with this disease and I want the next years of my life not to be marked by the fear that the disease may come back – she adds.
Catalog of unfulfilled promises
There are more unfulfilled promises: the opening of specialized oncology centers, quality control of treatment in hospitals, information for patients where they can be treated, and better access to modern medicines. Even the enacted changes to the oncology package are not made. It is about the publication by the minister of health of diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines so that cancer therapy is carried out in accordance with global recommendations, and not that every hospital treats it as it pleases. – The lack of implementation of the changes adopted by the Parliament is simply a scandal – says Bartosz Poliński, president of the Alivia Oncology Foundation, which supports over 300 patients in collecting funds for treatment not financed by the National Health Fund. The Foundation has prepared a list of negligence and projects that have not been implemented by the government.
How the government is fighting the cancer epidemic
It has been known for a long time that we treat cancer incorrectly. Among those who die from cancer each year, 30 could live longer if they were born in another country. When it comes to the effectiveness of oncological treatment, we are at the last end in the EU. And despite the promises to improve the organization of the system by subsequent governments, the NIK report published in February this year. points out that the effectiveness of cancer treatment in Poland is worse than in most other EU countries. NIK also points out that although the number of cases of malignant neoplasms in Poland is lower than in most European countries, the mortality rate is much higher. Unfortunately, for the first time in history, cancer is the most common cause of death in Poles of working age, regardless of gender, and the number of deaths from cancer has exceeded 100. The number of young people who start fighting the disease every year is also growing. – The cancer mortality in Poland is even higher than in Our Country – emphasizes Bartosz Poliński, head of Alivia.
A missed therapy cuts the chance in half
Despite the announcement of the creation of comprehensive centers for the treatment of individual cancers in Poland, they are not opened. As a result, diagnostics and treatment of colorectal or breast cancer are dispersed, and the effectiveness is lower than in other European countries.
– In Poland, an accurate diagnosis takes a very long time, especially in the case of a complicated, atypical type of cancer. You have to look for specialists and centers on your own. It takes weeks to collect biopsies, submit the results to specialists, and obtain a description! And the next dates of visits are slipping away. A man can twist! – says Aneta Smyczyńska Lubojańska, who is in charge of the Alivia Oncological Foundation. Meanwhile, the best results are obtained in large centers, e.g. the effectiveness of cancer treatment at the Oncology Center in Warsaw is as much as 30%. greater than many smaller ones. It should also be remembered that the first missed therapy reduces the chances of a cure by as much as 50%. There has been talk of the need for a network of oncology hospitals for a long time. Today, there are many small facilities, mainly in poviats, that provide partial treatment without consulting an experienced center.
We are in Europe
Cancer patients want to be treated like people in other EU countries. Meanwhile, access to modern drugs is still worse in Poland. One of the founders of the Alivia Oncology Foundation experienced it. Agata Polińska, the current vice president of the foundation in 2007, at the age of 28, was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer.
Due to the poor prognosis, it was necessary to implement aggressive treatment based on the latest achievements of medical knowledge. – The problem with obtaining such treatment in Poland was a source of enormous frustration and unimaginable stress. The therapy was carried out in accordance with world standards and with great success with the use of private funds – he recalls.
Currently, the foundation provides financial assistance to over 250 cancer patients.