Cancer treatment in the Czech Republic is on the same level as in old EU countries
Cancer patients with in the Czech Republic were treated in 2009 on the same medical level as those in the old EU member states. However, not all patients who would have needed it got to specialised centres, as Professor Jiri Vorlicek, President of the Czech Society for Oncology, told reporters today.
Money for the comprehensive cancer centres were bound to the treatment of a concrete patient, Prof Vorlicek said.
He added that patients must be provided with correct information so that all suitable patients could be sent to cancer centres.
The number of Czech cancer patients has been rising annually by 5 percent.
This year some 450,000 people who have been ever diagnosed with cancer are living in the 10-million Czech Republic.
"According to qualified estimates, 76,000 cases of cancer will be newly diagnosed in 2010 and some 27,000 patients will die," Prof Vorlicek said.
Oncologists will try to provide the treatment minimally of the same quality as in the last year - even under the difficult economic situation. This is only possible thanks to the rationalisation of cancer treatment and precise estimates of the number of costly patients given to health insurers.
The Czech Republic has been keeping the Czech National Cancer Registry for decades and it also has the Czech National Cancer Programme, as well as three National Cancer Screening Programmes.
Specialised care is provided in 13 comprehensive cancer centres.
The Czech Republic is placed in the middle of the standings of 20 European countries and the United States in cancer treatment success rate.
The Czech Society for Oncology keeps registries of patients that undergo modern biological treatment in specialised centres.
These registers prove that the expensive cancer treatment is applied efficiently to patients who really need it, Prof Vorlicek said.
Oncologists stress that patients must be thoroughly informed about their illness, which is an important part of the treatment.
They gather information on cancer-related problems and their treatment on the public part of the website www.linkos.cz, which is daily visited by over 1000 people on average and is the 7th most frequently visited health care website in the Czech Republic, Prof Vorlicek added.
23. 2. 2010 Czech News Agency (CTK)
