List of chemotherapies agents "should be updated"

Necessary drugs to treat cancer, anticancer drugs, are still a problem for health authorities.

The President of Cancer Patients Association, Cezar Irimie, has been drawing warnings for years, but the solutions seem hard to be found and implemented.

Cezar Irimie says that 40 chemotherapies are missing on the Romanian market and increasingly more patients are experiencing this problem.

Latest statistics of the National House showed about 500,000 people diagnosed with cancer and over 98,000 new cases every year, but Cezar Irimie says that some patients are waiting for months to receive the treatment after the diagnosis.

"We have patients from Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Iaşi, Bacău ... Just the other day I met in Brasov, in a pharmacy, a lady who left tickets with necessary medication for her 21 year child, in case someone will find these drugs, she would call to come and buy them.

"So, the situation is very critical, the increasing tension among cancer patients, who see themselves deprived of access to treatment, see short life expectancy," says Cezar Irimie.
Doctors are unable to prescribe the entire treatment scheme

In a survey made by colleagues from Radio Cluj, the city director of the Institute of Oncology, Patriciu Achimaş, says that the stock depletion has determined doctors to be unable to prescribe the entire treatment scheme.

"At this point, we lack a single chemotherapy, but both our institution and the National Cancer Committee had taken all necessary steps to get these treatments.

"The solution indirectly suggested that patients procure chemotherapy by themselves is not good. The responsibility belongs to the state for all his citizens," says Patriciu Achimaş.

The Head of Pediatric Oncology Department, Dr. Rodica Cosnarovici, believes that regarding children, the main weapon is chemotherapy.

"There is no need to lack chemotherapies from the scheme and not to be allowed a reduced dose, so to share a bottle between two patients. To get the drugs, efforts are very high. We need to get them in other ways, which are not always easy or appropriate.

"Sometimes the family buys them, sometimes we use donations, appeal to foundations, we appeal to colleagues abroad. We have small reserves of each drug, so that each patient rightly receives his treatment in the end," says Rodica Cosnarovici.

The Health Minister admits the problem

Interim President of the National Health Insurance House, Dorin Ionescu, has specified for Radio Romania Actualităţi that currently there are no problems regarding funding national oncology program, and any gaps in the treatment of patients are caused by the disappearance from the market of some chemotherapy after the withdrawal of several manufacturers.

Health Minister, Vasile Cepoi, recognizes that outpatient treatment with drugs is a critical issue of health system, not only for chemotherapies.

"There are some drugs that have no financial interest to manufacturers and distributors. For those we are looking for a solution, namely that to be acquired by Unifarm and Antibiotics Factory.

"We stopped in a first step at the chemotherapy. So far, we managed to bring only two of the 26. Four are in the process of being brought to the market and, of course, the negotiations continue with manufacturers to bring the others ", also said Vasile Cepoi.

Drug crisis is caused by the underfunding of the health system, situation that is perpetuated for several years and many governments, and the current Minister of resort said recently that he wants to have full transparency in fund raising and expects to receive next year for health 6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (PIB).

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea
MTTLC, Bucharest University