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Cancer neglected during pandemic, say Greek medical experts

Greek medical experts say the number of cancer screenings has plunged 90% during the pandemic, depriving many people of a timely diagnosis. The Covid-19 pandemic brought a dysfunction of the national health care system as public hospitals turned into single disease treatment facilities, thus creating a “hostage situation” for cancer patients.

This is what medical experts stressed at a press conference on Friday ahead of the Cancer Prevention and Awareness Week scheduled to take place in Patras, next week.

“We estimate that every year we have 3.7 million new cancer diagnoses and 1.4 million deaths [worldwide?]. “You understand how huge a pandemic we are talking about, in front of which the coronavirus pandemic is much smaller”, said

Chairwoman of the event organization and director of Pathological Oncology – Head of Oncology Unit of the General Hospital of Patras “Agios Andreas”, Athena Christopoulou spoke of cancer as a pandemic bigger than the coronavirus.

“We estimate that every year we have 3.7 million new cancer diagnoses and 1.4 million deaths [worldwide]. This is a huge pandemic we are talking about, in front of which the coronavirus pandemic is much smaller,” Christopoulou said.

She stressed the need for organized plans, organized and coordinated actions so to pass the message especially to youth that prevention which mean screening before symptoms and early diagnosis is what really save lives.

“Already this year, the European plan against cancer was announced, which essentially highlights the need for large and emblematic actions based on prevention and early diagnosis”, she added, concluding that, in addition to the high level of scientific potential that Greece has, “political will should also play an important role.”

“Cancer patients find themselves in a unique kind of hostage situation, because our hospitals have turned into [single-disease treatment centers] due to the coronavirus,” said Haralambos Bonanos, deputy governor of the Western Greece region and a former head of the General University Hospital of Patras.

“Many, out of fear, do not set foot in the hospitals’ outpatient clinics and others do not do the screenings they are supposed to do, and will pay for that later,” Bonanos added.

He added that those who fail to vaccinate against Covid-19 keep filling hospitals and help prolonging this situation.

“The impact of the delayed diagnoses will be felt later,” said Odysseas Zoras, professor of surgical oncology at the University of Crete and president of the Patra-based Hellenic Open University. “A timely diagnosis is the secret to treatment,” he added.

Doctors also noted that, with a few tweaks in our lifestyles and mass screenings, 50% of cancer cases could be avoided, while others could, with proper treatment, turn into chronic cases with a good quality of life for survivors.

Patraσ is hosting a Cancer Awareness and Information Week from September 11 to 18.

PS Blaming the unvaccinated is the easy solution. Last year during the first wave of the pandemic when the large hospitals in urban centers treated almost exclusively Covid-patients, there was an order by the Health Ministry cutting surgeries by 80 percent. Also last year, even a diagnosed patient could hardly have an appointment at public facilities for essential CAT and MRI scans. The alternative was -and still is – private facilities at a nice cost often to be paid by the patient -insured or not – to accelerate a screening appointment. A woman I know, had to wait for her cancer surgery for over six months.

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