The Ministry of Health has launched for public consultation the new version of the National Plan to Combat and Control Cancer (PNCC), the result of the 4-month activity of the multidisciplinary Oncology commission, made up of 20 specialists from all medical fields with responsibilities in the field of oncology, transmits the ministry in a press release.
The Ministry of Health launched for public consultation the new version of the PNCC, the result of the 4-month activity of the multidisciplinary Oncology commission, made up of 20 specialists from all medical fields with responsibilities in the field of oncology (medical oncology, oncological surgery, radiotherapy, onco-hematology , pediatric hematology, pathological anatomy, radiology, medical genetics, family medicine, public health, pharmacy). Other specialists from the radiation therapy committee and the medical oncology and surgical oncology subcommittees also contributed.
The need to develop such a document resulted from January 2023, when the technical working group formed by representatives of the Ministry of Health, CNAS, INSP and specialists from the Oncology commission found that many of the rules that had to be implemented were not related to the prevention and fight against cancer , are discriminatory for some categories of oncological patients and the funding sources for their implementation are not identified.
Specialists from the multidisciplinary Oncology committee worked in parallel, together with officials from the Ministry of Health and the CNAS, to develop rules to improve patients’ access to preventive, diagnostic and treatment medical services.
The Commission established the general objectives of the new National Cancer Control Plan and the measures to be taken to achieve them:
- Development of an integrated oncology health information system for evidence-based cancer prevention and care and research capacity building
- Ensuring the consolidated framework for a consistent and sustainable primary prevention system
- Development of the early cancer detection framework
- Ensuring equal and fair access to diagnosis and high quality care
- Improving the quality of life for cancer patients, cancer survivors and families and carers
- Development of research in oncology
- Ensuring and developing human resources in oncology
Starting from 2022, several measures have been implemented to support patients:
- MONITOR1 and 2 programs for fast and free access to high-performance imaging evaluations. Bureaucratic barriers to access to PET-CT investigations have also been removed
- Full settlement of medical services performed by day hospitalization in public and private oncology centers
- Unlocking the anti-HPV vaccination program, which prevents cervical cancer
- The inclusion in the list of compensated and free drugs of a significant number of molecules, intended for the specific treatment of some forms of cancer
- Unblocking and finalizing projects for the construction and equipment of 7 new Radiotherapy Centers: Craiova, Bucharest, Galați, Târgu Mureș, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași.
The Ministry of Health thanks all the specialists who worked on the improved version of the National Plan to Combat and Control Cancer:
– Oncology Commission of the Ministry of Health: Conf. Univ. Dr. Michael Schenker, Medical Oncology – President; Assoc. Univ. Dr. Dana Stănculeanu, Medical Oncology – Vice President, President of the National Society of Medical Oncology; Dr. Daniela Zob, Medical Oncology; Prof. Univ. Dr. Viorel Scripcariu, Oncological Surgery; Prof. Univ. Dr. Cecil Mirea, Oncological Surgery; Prof. Univ. Dr. Laura Mazilu, Medical Oncology; Prof. Univ. Dr. Şerban Negru, Medical Oncology; Prof. Univ. Dr. Gabriel Kacso, Radiotherapy; Dr. Radu Valeriu Toma, Radiotherapy; Dr. Lucian Bratu, Radiotherapy; Prof. Univ. Dr. Alina Daniela Tănase, Hematology; Head of Works Dr. Mihaela Andreescu, Hematology; Prof. Univ. Dr. Anca Colita, Pediatric Oncology and Hematology; Prof. Univ. Dr. Ioana Andreea Gheonea, Medical Imaging; Prof. Univ. Dr. Daniela Viorica Mosoiu, Medical Oncology, Palliative Care; Assoc. Univ. Dr. Ana Maria Alexandra Stănescu, Family Medicine; Dr. Carmen Ungurean, Public Health and Management; Head of Farm Works. Răzvan Prisada, President of ANMDMR; Prof. Univ. Dr. Ioana Neagoe, Molecular Biology and Genetics; Prof. Univ. Dr. Ovidiu Pop, Pathological Anatomy.
– To the members of the Radiotherapy Commission and the medical oncology and oncological surgery subcommittees
– Officials and specialists from the MS, CNAS and INSP
The Ministry of Health will take the necessary steps to adopt this technical document as quickly as possible to allow the approval of the rules that will improve the access of Romanian patients to prevention, diagnosis and treatment, including personalized medicine, according to the cited source.
The National Plan to Combat and Control Cancer can be consulted on the website of the Ministry of Health: https://ms.ro/ro/informatii-de-interes-public/noutati/planul-național-de-combatere-si-control- of the pncc-cancer/
Editor : A.C.
