Expanding the network of health care facilities to prevent cancer in women

A meeting of the Intersectoral Working Group on the implementation of the World Bank's "Preventive oncology and the implementation of effective anti-tumor technologies in Lviv oblast" Subproject chaired by the Deputy Head of Lviv Oblast State Administration, Mr. Yuriy Pidlisnyi, was held on January 29, 2016. Pursuant to the order of the Head of OSA, the meeting was also attended by the representatives of the State Treasury Service, the Departments of Finance and Health Care, the heads of parliamentary committees on budget, social and economic development, and the heads of the parliamentary committees on health care, maternity, social protection, youth policy, physical activities and sports.

 

The participants got familiarized with innovative approaches to screening for breast and cervical cancer in the framework of the Subproject "Preventive oncology and the implementation of effective anti-tumor technologies in Lviv oblast" under a joint "Serving People, Improving Health" Project of the World Bank and the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine.

 

As has been indicated by the Deputy Head physician of the medical unit at Lviv Oblast-level State Cancer Treatment and Diagnostics Centre, Dr. Orest Tril, "For most women the word 'screening' causes fear. But in reality everything is safe and clear in this regard. The word comes from the English "screen", which means "a sieve". In medical practice, screening is percieved as carrying out simple and secure examination of large groups of the population to define the risk groups pertaining to the development of a particular disease, including cancer. Within this particular project, screening is aimed at identifying the women from the risk group, which may allow to determine the incidence of cancer at an early stage in future."

 

The subproject implementation involves the procurement of medical equipment, computer hardware and software "Electronic registry of the female population in Lviv oblast", encouragement of additional examination of women by involving media, as well as carrying out training of doctors and other medical personnel in innovative methods of screening.

 

As Mr. Yuriy Pidlisnyi stated, "What is important in regard to this subproject is to encourage women to undergo examination. Actually screening is one of the simplest and safest ways to perform examination and to detect cancer; we hope that a large-scale promotional campaign will provide an opportunity to improve the situation in the oblast."

 

At the end of the meeting, the Subproject Management Consultant, Ms. Khrystyna Pak, informed the attendees about the progress of the subproject implementation. In particular, it was noted that Lviv oblast is the leader among the eight oblasts participating in the project. As of today, among the nine bidding procedures, the documentation for six procedures has been prepared and approved by the World Bank, and the bidding winners have been determined in the framework of two procurement procedures. The first installation of the medical equipment and the supply of medical devices is expected to start in summer, 2016. In order to approach the services to the population and to ensure the ease of performing the examination, it was made a decision to establish multi-district screening centres in Lviv, Chervonohrad, Stryi, Sambir, and Drohobych, on the basis of the existing oncology departments.

 

 

The main news and events about the implementation of the "Preventive oncology and the implementation of effective anti-tumor technologies in Lviv oblast" may be found on the web-site of a joint "Serving People, Improving Health" Project of the World Bank and the Ministry of Health Care of Ukraine http://wb.moz.gov.ua and on the web-site of the Health Care Department of Lviv OSA http://www.health-loda.gov.ua