Oncological care must be improved in all stages / Article

The State Audit Office promises to follow up on the implementation of the cancer registry

Cancer treatment is a priority, but current efforts to improve the situation are not enough, according to stakeholders – doctors, patients and policymakers who met Thursday to discuss what to include in a plan to improve health care services in the oncology field. The patients indicated that there was a lot of talk, they should get down to business.

Olga Valciņa, a member of the board of the association of oncology patient organizations “Onkoalianse”, said: “We have been talking about the cancer registry since the first organization of the patients’ association. And we have not gotten any further than we are talking about. It is not the case, it is not.”

The State Audit Office promises to follow up on how the implementation of the register will go in the near future. In the longer term, other recommendations aimed at, for example, early diagnosis will also be followed. It will be seen how the population’s responsiveness to screenings has grown from year to year. The so-called “green corridor” will also be evaluated.

Maija Āboliņa, a member of the State Audit Council, stated: “In the audit, we concluded that instead of 65 days, a person takes three times longer to get a diagnosis, then we will also measure whether the data shows that the number of days is decreasing. Then we will look at the list of compensable drugs, whether there is an increase in drugs meeting European standards in this list.”

Doctors and patients expect a complex solution

As doctors and patients have pointed out, the plan must be comprehensive and improve cancer care at all stages.

Alinta Hegmane, the chairman of the board of the Association of Latvian Oncologists, noted: “If there is a screening and the screening is not followed by diagnosis and treatment, then the screening does not make sense. Even if the response rate is 90%. Here, unfortunately, we have to look at the complexities. There is not one thing that would globally improve the situation in oncology. One one of the most important things is to identify resources as it relates to funding and planning.”

The board member of “Onkoalianses” added: “Is that [ceturtdienas pasākums] will remain as a public relations conversation? Will real jobs and funding follow? We can’t plan more if we don’t grant funding.”

How much funding is needed? The parties involved do not yet know this. The first step is to develop a service improvement plan.

Minister of Health Hosam Abu Meri (“New Unity”) stated: “If we compare ourselves to the Baltic states, we see that we still have room to invest. As I said in my speech, the goal is to increase funding not only for health care as care, but the goal is for us to know that the money goes to such-and-such patients. Thus, the demand for additional funding will be there, and everything will be transparent.”

Oncological diseases are the second most common cause of death in Latvia.