Prophylaxis 40 Plus. Little interest, there will be changes to the program?

So far, approximately 350,000 people, out of more than 20 million entitled persons, have benefited from preventive examinations under the Prevention 40 Plus program. The Ministry of Health emphasizes that another 400,000 completed the application form and explained that the intensity of the program use was influenced by the fourth and fifth wave of COVID-19.

The Prophylaxis 40 Plus program was launched in mid-2021. It was to enable basic preventive examinations financed from public funds without the need for a referral from a primary health care physician. On Tuesday, the permanent parliamentary subcommittee for public health got acquainted with the information on the implementation of this program, which was extended until June 30, 2022 (it was to last until the end of 2021).

Dariusz Poznański, director of the Department of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, informed the deputies that at the moment benefits under the program are provided in 1751 places. According to the data of the Ministry of Health, most studies were performed in the age groups of 40-44 years and 45-49 years (120 thousand and 103 thousand). With each successive five-year-old age group, the use of the program is diminishing. Women are more willing than men to participate in the program. The inhabitants of big cities are definitely dominant.

The Ministry of Health emphasizes that if you add up the number of people tested and those who filled in the application, the program managed to reach almost 800,000 people - out of 20 million people over 40 (already at the design stage of the program, many experts claimed that the program covers too broad a population, if only because people over 60 years of age, not to mention the elderly, are usually under the routine supervision not only of a primary care physician, but also often at least one specialist, which involves performing tests).

The representative of the Ministry of Health assured that the program will be evaluated and then it will be decided whether and how to improve it, and in what form it will be continued from July 2022.

Dorota Korycińska, president of the Polish National Cancer Federation, pointed to the lack of promotion of the program. - The program practically does not exist in the media, there is no advertising, no information - she said. She pointed out that his weakness is leaving the patient to himself with the test results (it is only up to the patient's will whether he or she will be able to see the doctor, even if they should arouse anxiety).

The pharmacist Łukasz Fijałkowski emphasized that reaching the research in the Prevention 40 Plus program would be easier for patients if pharmacies were involved, either for promotion (announcements about the program in every pharmacy) or for preliminary tests (blood pressure measurement). , weight and height measurements, BMI determination). Then, he said, the pharmacist could pass the patient on so that "someone could call him back and invite him for a further examination.