The National Oncology Plan 2023-2027, “which at present is only a valuable treatise on oncology, must be transformed into a real operational plan and adapted to the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan of the European Commission, a streamlined, incisive and concise document, with the forecast of precise initiatives and objectives and a timetable as well as the possibility of accessing financing for its implementation”. This was asked by the oncologist Francesco Cognetti, coordinator of the Forum of the 75 scientific societies of Italian hospital and university doctors (FSSC), who at a press conference launched an appeal to the government asking for a “major structural reform and urgent measures to save the NHS”. .
“More investments are also needed in prevention. It is scientifically proven – explained Cognetti – that 40% of high incidence pathologies, such as tumors and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, can be avoided thanks to healthy lifestyles”. But the percentages of citizens who participate in oncological screening are around 40% for mammography and Pap Test or HPV testing and less than 30% for colorectal screening. The European Union, the expert recalls, “asks all member countries to reach, by 2025, the level of 90% membership for all three programs. This is a very ambitious objective, but it is important to urge the action of the Regions in this sector, possibly providing rewarding or penalizing systems in terms of economic resources to be allocated at a local level”.
(WATCH THE INTERVIEW WITH ONCOLOGIST COGNETTI IN THE ‘INTERVIEWS’ SECTION)
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