About 450 million zlotys per year have been allocated for the implementation of tasks under the National Oncology Strategy (NSO) in 2022 and 2023, and from this year until 2030, spending is planned at 500 million zlotys each year. The money goes to investments in medical personnel, health education, science and innovation, but also to the oncology care system. By 2030, 92 tasks are planned to be carried out under the NSO, while 63 tasks were carried out last year. - We want to continue the priorities and solutions started in 2023, so as to continuously improve the level of oncology care," stressed Deputy Minister Marek Kos.
This year, the MZ under the NSO plans to purchase equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of leukemia in children and adults, equipment for pathomorphological diagnosis, gas pedals, digital mammograms. About PLN 400 million has been set aside for these purposes. The deputy head of the Health Ministry, who is responsible, incidentally, for drug policy, also stressed that the ministry plans to further expand the list of innovative drugs in oncology. Other goals include launching a national oncology portal and continuing work to improve the staffing situation in oncology.
Janusz Cieszynski (Law and Justice) asked how patients evaluate the implementation of the NSO and its impact on treatment in 2023, and whether the ministry draws any conclusions from this evaluation. Marek Kos recalled, however, that there are no patient surveys, so it is difficult to prejudge how they assess the situation. - The 2023 reporting material and plans for the following years show that the strategy is effective and needed. The National Cancer Strategy was a good initiative because it is a multi-year effort with very ambitious and very well-set goals," the deputy minister asserted, noting that the years 2022-2023 are specific due to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic years, he stressed, both the reporting of tests and therefore detection, diagnosis and treatment were very limited, so both last year and this year we can expect increased detection of oncological diseases, and therefore more patients, undergoing treatment. - This makes me all the more positive about the NSO and its introduction. It guarantees funding and allows hospitals to function. These are sizable amounts of money and support for medical entities for diagnostics and treatment," Kos pointed out.
The patients' perspective was illuminated during the discussion by Dorota Korycinska, representing the All-Poland Oncology Federation, pointing out - among other things - that patients are waiting in increasingly long queues for treatment. Not only for treatment - waiting times for radiological descriptions have increased significantly. - Detection is still very late. Screening enrollment has declined. Public campaigns in 2023 and previous years have not been successful," she said. She also pointed out the lack of inclusion of numerous tasks in the 2023 report. As she reasoned, information on changes in planning or the stage of implementation was not entered, only the tasks were omitted - OFO intends to prepare separate information on this subject.
Prof. Piotr Rutkowski strongly defended the implementation of NSO. - We are constantly analyzing the reports of cancer survival results. They are better, the improvement in some cancers is up to 20% in terms of 5-year survival," he stressed. The replacement of mammograms with digital ones has also been a success, with the result that from next September only such devices will be used. The situation in pathomorphological diagnostics has improved, according to the expert.Thanks to the accreditation of diagnostic laboratories, pricing has improved, and for the first time an independent valuation of pathomorphological diagnostics has been introduced, which helps a lot in the implementation of services, because until now pathomorphology was something that everyone was saving on," said Prof. Piotr Rutkowski.
