The members of the Parliament’s commission on social protection, health and family called upon national and foreign donors to provide assistance in overcoming the critical situation witnessed at the Oncological Institute. The call was made following a working visit paid recently to the Institute, within which the MPs ascertained the lack of the medical devices needed for radiation therapy, which endangers the patients’ treatment, IPN reports.

The statistics of the last few years show that the number of people who need radiotherapeutic treatment is increasing, while the Oncological Institute faces serious problems as regards the equipment with the medical devices needed for radiotherapy. The existent devices are worn-out and the Institute has only 30% of the necessary equipment. Therefore, a device is used daily three times more often than it should be used, in accordance with the international standards.

“In the absence of an urgent solution to modernize the radiotherapeutic service of the Oncological Institute, its work over the next few years is in danger, as the state of the patients with cancer and the functionality of the integrated medical system of the Institute are. Given the tight state budget and the austerity of the whole national health system, the efforts made by the state institutions remain insufficient without a financial support from national and foreign donors,” says the call. The MPs call on the donor community to provide financial assistance for modernizing the radiotherapeutic service of the Oncological Institute.

More than 25,000 persons annually receive treatment at the Oncological Institute, with about 5,000 patients benefitting from radiotherapy separately or in combination with other methods.