Cancer treatment is a priority, but efforts so far to improve the situation are insufficient, doctors, patients and policymakers who met Thursday to discuss what to include in the health services improvement plan for oncology have acknowledged. Patients pointed out that there was a lot of talk, and there was work to be done.
Olga Valciņa, Board Member of the "Onkoalianse" association of oncology patient organizations, said: "We have been talking about a cancer registry ever since the patient society was first organized. And nowhere do we get further than talk."
The State Audit Office promises to keep track of the implementation of the registry in the near future. Other recommendations aimed at early diagnosis will also be followed by auditors in the longer term. Auditors will watch the population's responsiveness to screenings year after year. The so-called "green corridor", or getting to a doctor in suspected cancer cases without waiting in line, will also be assessed.
State Audit Council Member Maija Āboliņa said: "In the audit we concluded that a person ending up with a diagnosis instead of 65 days ends up in a three-fold longer wait time, then we will also measure whether you can see from the data that the number of those days is falling. We will then look at the list of reimbursable medicines, whether there is an increase in medicines that meet European standards on this list."
As doctors and patients pointed out, the plan must be complex and oncological care should be improved at all stages.
Alinta Hegmane, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Association of Oncologists, noted: "If there is screening and screening is not followed by diagnosis and treatment, then screening makes no sense. Even if the response to that is 90%. [..] There is not one thing that improves the situation globally in oncology. One of the most important things is to identify resources because it involves funding and planning. "
How much funding is needed? This is not yet known by the parties involved.
Oncological diseases are the second most common cause of death in Latvia after cardiovascular disease.
