Medicines for oncological patients must remain within the scope of activity of the National Health Service, announced the Association of patients with oncological diseases. Their open letter is based on the words of the manager of the National Health Insurance Fund, Dr. Plamen Tsekov.
Yesterday he insisted that a state fund be created, to finance the most expensive drugs for oncological diseases. The manager of the NHIF explained, that at the moment there is an overspend for medicines for oncological diseases in the budget of the Treasury, as it is likely that funds will be diverted because of it, with which they will be paid to the hospitals.
“I follow the controversies with a heavy heart, aiming at public consensus regarding drugs for cancer patients. Already 10 years. Their frequency can be compared to that of rains in London. I.e. almost continuous… Each new one is hotter and louder. Defenders of all kinds and breeds, defend out loud the right of patients to receive adequate treatment. As if it were a privilege. It's like something, which is given for free… It is as if it is heroism and a feat for the state and society to take care of sick people” it is said in the open letter of Evgenia Aderska, President of the Association of Cancer Patients.
“I wonder, does it cross anyone's mind how the HE patient feels about this continued conditionality of his otherwise primal right to a priori care, treatment, chance against the disease? Even the most ardent defenders of this right, which who knows why we call a cause, they should be aware, that the sick person needs peace and security. The phrase “cancer patients are still without drugs” kills more than the disease. Believe me! Imagine for a second, that you are in this situation. Yes, Yes, imagine! You are lying down - it doesn't matter where - whether at home or in the hospital - you are better today, like a miracle. You play TV and the news starts with the explosive news, that your rahat is in question. That your life is in condition. Does not matter, that the doctor told you otherwise yesterday… Will you be left with the sweet feeling of a brief superiority over a difficult experience? Absolutely not! I claim it from experience. So much for humanity, when we wave the legal right to life as a flag”, explains Evgenia Aderska.
According to her, with the ever-changing funding models, there will be no peace for anyone, at least for the sick.
“I am a little ashamed to take part in this controversy, fair! What now, to go out on the street again and take off our wigs, to besiege hospitals and institutions? Is this what we want from patients? Is that what we doom them to?? We've already seen this movie, did you forget? Yes, it is not easy to find an unambiguous solution - the constant. We have repeatedly called for constant attention to oncology and flexibility on the part of the institutions, which guarantees security and tranquility. It is time for the state to address this and release civic organizations, strictly following her every move. I do not say, that monitoring is unnecessary. On the contrary. But providing treatment to every patient is an a priori concern of every state. Not only in Bulgaria this balance is difficult. I have talked personally with statesmen from other countries - they also share the complexity of the problem. But they never for a moment question getting treatment, especially when the opponent is cancer. And they don't allow themselves to say out loud sacrilegious lines like “we give a lot of money to oncology”, explains the chairman of the Association of patients with oncological diseases.
“Undoubtedly, treatment in oncology is expensive. But the price grows in parallel with efficiency. Fact. It remains only for me to recall the emblematic truth, that this process can only be limited by systematic prevention and screening, by changing our way of life and thinking, willingly to cooperate with nature to preserve each other. Do we have anything sustainable on this order? Not. I turn off the program “Stop and examine yourself”, which, as it became clear recently, does not aim to ensure the start of population screening in Bulgaria, but only to establish the model of organization of this process. And after? After 31.12.2013? Will resources be found in the state budget to continue this life-saving process? MUST! This is the controversy, which is worth it. Because the sick will become more, as warned by the WHO, without any reservations. And instead of moving the financial commitments of the state from the National Health Insurance Fund into funds or any new structures, it seems more normal to me, more logical and human, to uphold this need. Prophylaxis! Systematic population screening! Training of young people! Rearrangement of the ladder of personal and public values, among which the leading one is health! And humanity, of course”, explains Evgenia Aderska.
