Cancer treatment is less effective. Poland lags behind European leaders

"The lack of anti-cancer prevention and limited access to innovative therapies are the biggest problems of the Polish cancer care system. This makes Poland stand out from the European leaders when it comes to treating cancer patients.

The 2018 report of the Supreme Audit Office shows that the effectiveness of oncological treatment in Poland is worse than in most other European Union countries. 

This is a problem, because probably by 2025 the incidence of oncological diseases will increase by over 25%, and cancer will then become the main cause of death in Poland.

The European Parliament has prioritized cancer treatment and has set a target for more than 70% of cancer patients treated by 2030  in the EU have to overcome their disease. Will it be possible to do it in Poland?

- If I were to list the most important challenges related to oncological treatment in Poland and indicate areas in which we "stand out", for example, from Western European countries, it would be, first of all, insufficient participation of Poles in health prevention programs. 

As we know, we can reduce the risk of cancer in about 50 percent. just by changing your lifestyle. 

However, Poles still do not belong to the healthiest societies. For example, in Poland the percentage of smokers is over 20%, and in France - about 12%. - says professor Piotr Rutkowski, head of the Department of Tumors of Soft Tissues, Bones and Melanomas of the National Institute of Oncology in Warsaw. The professor will represent Poland at the European Congress of Cancer Patient Organizations.

Polish women also perform cytology and mammography too rarely - only about half of women decide to undergo such tests, although they are free of charge. The situation worsened even more during the pandemic, when 90% decrease  was recorded in the number of procedures performed.

Colonoscopy, which is a method of early detection of neoplastic lesions, is also limp.

Time is important to patients, says Krystyna Wechmann from the Federation of Amazons' Associations and the Polish Coalition of Cancer Patients.

The access to modern therapies leaves much to be desired. Although it must be admitted that recent years have been a flood of reimbursement for innovative drugs. 

- We also have a lot to do in the area of ​​reimbursement of innovative cancer therapies. Currently, it is about 60 percent, and our goal - under the National Oncological Strategy - is to obtain 90 percent refunds - explains prof. Rutkowski.

But access to modern drugs alone is not enough. Hospitals lack employees - including oncologists, but also physiotherapists and psycho-oncologists.

Poland is better in terms of treatment effectiveness than in other countries in our region. 

However, we are lagging behind Western Europe. - In terms of the five-year survival rate, which in Poland, e.g. in skin melanomas, is about 70 percent, we are still worse than Germany, where this ratio is at the level of 90 percent, - summarizes prof. Rutkowski."