An emergency within an emergency. It is that of Ukrainian cancer patients forced to abandon their homes and therefore treatment: where will they find assistance? Who will guarantee them that they can continue to follow the treatments? How many of them will not report to the health authorities of the country where they will be hosted? If today the priority of international organizations dealing with refugees is to guarantee them a safe place and control their basic health conditions, refugees must be guaranteed full health care in the coming months, as established by European legislation. This is why we need everyone’s contribution and help right now: oncologists, volunteers, patients, institutions. This is the appeal that came from the virtual conference held on March 18 by Asco, the association of US medical oncologists, and by the European Cancer Organization (Eco) with oncologists in Ukraine, Poland and Romania.
“Since February 24, we have seen the arrival of approximately 3.3 million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries. This is probably the largest and most rapid increase in the refugee population Europe has ever experienced, ”said Richard Sullivan, Director of the Institute of Cancer Policy at King’s College London, and a member of the World Health Emergency Committee. “Even if the war stops tomorrow, it will take at least a year and a half to rebuild the cancer treatment system in Ukraine. Europe must therefore make a real medium and long-term commitment to these patients ”. Not only to welcome refugees and take refugees to cancer centers, but also to immediately guarantee medicines and machinery to those who have not been able to escape. And also in the future to reconstruct what, as pointed out by Andriy Hrynkiv, a Ukrainian surgeon oncologist, was destroyed in the attacks that unfortunately hit hospitals and shelters.
Neighboring countries, such as Poland and Romania, have already organized a network of assistance in the area to welcome cancer patients. “Afterhoma is an online platform where refugees can register and find information on medical treatment. Our hospital is close to the border so we are at the forefront of welcoming: we have organized ourselves and have 6 doctors and 12 volunteers who speak Russian or Ukrainian. In the first two weeks of the conflict, we have registered many cases of requests for treatment for breast cancer, because those fleeing Ukraine are mostly women and children “, testifies Nicoleta Antone, of the” ion Chiricuta “Oncology Institute in Cluj -Napoca in Romania.
For Ukrainian refugees and oncologists, Asco and Eco have produced and translated a series of information on the management of oncological diseases in wartime into Ukrainian and the languages of neighboring countries. Resources can be found on the help site. Among the aids offered there is also a telephone line to be able to speak with oncologists or psychologists.
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“In Italy the network has already been activated and there is full willingness to give all the support from the association I preside over and from medical oncologists, as we are already doing in part with local associations”, said Saverio Cinieri, national president of the Italian Association of Medical Oncology (Aiom). “The state was activated immediately, in the sense that requests for pediatric patients, neonatal intensive care, burn center, dialysis and oncology arrived in the health structures of the country, including in my hospital”.