Medexpress message summary

- We want the National Oncology Network to start operating from January 1, 2023, said Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska at the Healthcare Forum, which takes place as part of the Economic Forum in Karpacz. As part of the network, each cancer patient will receive a caregiver who will help the patient in the next stages of treatment. Waldemar Kraska added that the act on the National Oncological Network was already prepared. Parliament will decide on its adoption in autumn.

The Anesthesiologists Trade Union is critical of the idea of ​​the Ministry of Health to introduce a skill called "safe sedation in short procedures", which will be available to doctors with the title of specialist or 2nd degree specialist, among others. in the fields of internal medicine, general surgery, paediatrics and gastroenterology.

Currently, in Poland, such procedures can be performed by medical personnel with strictly defined competences in the field of anaesthesiology and intensive care. According to trade unionists, introducing the possibility of sedation by doctors of other specializations will reduce the health safety of patients.

The Ombudsman has doubts whether the 6-month age criterion is directly and necessarily related to the effectiveness of Zolgensma in the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy and whether it is not possible to refer to the child's weight parameter. - This may evoke a justified sense of injustice and injustice in parents - writes Marcin Wiącek to Maciej Miłkowski, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Health. Importantly, the European Medicines Agency has no age limit for this medicine, and many countries do not.

The number of cataract surgeries performed after the coronavirus pandemic was announced has dropped by a third, according to data from the National Health Fund. Although the epidemic situation has improved significantly since 2020, ophthalmologists note that patients still do not report to scheduled surgeries and visits. Postponing the decision to perform the procedure may have very negative consequences for patients, warns Dr.Michał Biskup, head of the Ophthalmology Clinic at the Provincial Complex Hospital in Kielce. Meanwhile, the operation is usually performed in Poland as a one-day admission to hospital and is reimbursed by the National Health Fund.

Later this year, the government will deal with the amendment to the act on food safety and nutrition, which will regulate, inter alia, the matter of advertisements for dietary supplements. The new regulations are to introduce an obligation to inform that the preparations do not have therapeutic properties. It will also not be possible to use the image of a doctor or pharmacist in advertisements. The new regulations will also cover the sale of dietary supplements. In pharmacies and pharmacy outlets, they will be allowed to be displayed only in designated places, clearly separated from medicinal products, medical devices and cosmetics. The government's work on the amendment is planned for the fourth quarter of this year.