NGOs Initiate Establishment of National Cancer Mission Hub

Konstantin Karagyozov

The news conference in the BTA National Press Club in Sofia on July 8 (BTA Photo/Milena Stoykova)

Sofia,

08.07.2024 13:44

(BTA)

Establishment of a national hub of the European Mission on Cancer in Bulgaria will improve the overall treatment process for cancer patients, members of three non-governmental organisations – the Bulgarian Joint Cancer Network (BJCN), Center for European Health Policies and Digital Health and Innovations Cluster Bulgaria, said at a news conference in the BTA National Press Club in Sofia on Monday.

Assoc. Prof. Dimitar Kalev of BJCN alarmed that cancer patients get lost between treatment stages, get depressed and refuse to follow that path. In his words, the patient eventually decides to seek help in ‘perfectly organised’ foreign cancer treatment facilities in Turkey, Germany or Austria. The percentage of such patients is rising sharply, Kalev stressed.

The idea of the future national hub of the European Mission on Cancer is to bring all stakeholders together in a non-governmental way, involving also the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, and to establish the necessary regulatory and legal norms for the best treatment standards.

According to Assoc. Prof. Asya Konsulova, Head of the Medical Oncology Clinic at the University Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment in Sofia, the construction of a national cancer mission hub will improve the care quality for cancer patients in Bulgaria. Introduction of screening in Bulgaria is most important, Konsulova noted, adding that there is a lack of follow-up care after a patient's treatment is completed.

The national hubs of the European Mission on Cancer are non-governmental coordination structures of the European Mission on Cancer Implementation Plan, published in September 2021.

/RY/