site.btaNumber of Chemotherapy Patients Is Declining, Cancer Medication Prices Increase, Shows Hospital Index Project Data

August 11 (BTA) - A data analysis from the Hospital Index Project in the field of oncology, published on Tuesday, shows a decrease in the number of patients who received chemotherapy in Bulgaria last year and a clear increase in the cost of medicines for its implementation. The data are provided by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which finances medical treatment in the country.

The Hospital Index Project is a joint initiative of Gallup International Balkan and the specialized website clinica.bg, and the data it handles are provided by the NHIF. The aim of the initiative is to give more transparency to the activities of medical institutions when it comes to socially significant diagnoses.

According to this current analysis, a total of 30,396 patients received chemotherapy at the 38 hospitals where it is performed in Bulgaria in the past year. Although there are no significant differences in the number of hospitals and centres that privide chemotherapy compared to the previous two years, the number of patients is on the decline. In 2018, 31,022 people received chemotherapy in 38 clinics, and in 2017, 31,878 people received the treatment in 41 clinics, according to the Hospital Index Project data.

As chemotherapy patients in Bulgaria decrease, the costs of their treatment continue to grow sharply. In 2019, the NHIF paid 496.96 million leva for oncological drugs in hospital care, compared to 415.713 million leva in 2018, and 327 million leva in 2017.

Accordingly, the average price of chemotherapy drugs per patient increased from 10,257 leva in 2017 to 16,349 leva last year.

The main reason for this is the increasing use of innovative and expensive medicines.

The number of patients and medical establishments that provide radiation therapy has increased. Last year, 16,001 people received radiation therapy in 23 hospitals and centres compared to 15,204 people and 20 hospitals in the previous year.

Cancer needs comprehensive treatment and, in addition to the active phase with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, patients must have access to follow-up and sometimes additional treatment, analysts say. According to them, medical establishments have made progress when it comes to the first part of treatment, but there is no such progress in the follow-up stage.

Despite the increase in the funds that the NHIF provides for palliative care, which has almost doubled for the past two years (from 51 leva per day in 2017 to 97 leva per day this year), the interest of medical institutions in these activities remains low, the analysis shows.

There is an increase in the number of patients under long-term doctor's observation for the third year in a row. In the past 12 months, their number rose from 74,587 to 86,718, the data show. In Bulgaria there are about 300 thousand people with oncological diseases. RY/DT




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