Subproject implementation in the newspaper "Your health"

Signing of some contracts, such as those for the procurement of brushes for taking samples for cytology examinations are either still underway or require reannouncement of the bidding procedures, since the requirements for the bidders are extremely high, and sometimes even too high for Ukrainian enterprises, while for foreign companies they are financially unattractive due to small, in their opinion, contract amounts.

 

The project co-financing is mainly provided by the regional budget in the framework of the regional program for fighting cancer in the Lviv oblast in the period between 2017 and 2020, which was approved in December, 2016. During 1.5 years, equipment for surgery, Force Triad electric coagulator, mammography film, and chemotherapeutics.

 

YH? Large-scale training sessions are planned to be held in foreign clinics in the framework of the subproject. How many professionals have already taken advantage of this opportunity? How is the selection of doctors for training carried out?

 

- We try to capture the largest possible number of doctors from the regional screening centres and hospitals, to get the skills of the experts in various fields improved. Sometimes a host institution determines itself the number and the specialty of the physicians, which they are willing to host. Thus, more than 40 experts have already visited foreign clinics, while about 250 gynecologists, radiologists, mammologist, and laboratory technicians from Lviv participated in scientific conferences. The experts from the Lviv oblast have also attended highly specialized foreign clinics and centers, including the National Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon (France), St. Raphael Clinic Scanmed (Poland), University Clinic in Heidelberg (Germany), where they got familiarized with the work of their colleagues. The team of radiologists have recently participated in the European Congress of Radiology "The Flower Gardens of Radiology" (Vienna, Austria). In early February the surgical oncologists, radiologists, and radiation therapists from Lviv, Drohobych, Stryi, Sambir, and Chervonohrad returned back from their week-long internship at the Center for diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in the Gynecological Clinic at Heidelberg University Medical Hospital (Germany). Our experts have not only received theoretical knowledge, but also had an opportunity to gain practical skills directly during the treatment process, as they attended the pre- and postoperative consultations, surgerical procedures with radical mastectomy, lumpectomy, reconstructive surgery, and were able to observe the treatment session with the use of the only in the world ultra modern linear proton and carbon accelerator. Soon a study visit to Lodz is planned to be held for cytologists (Poland), as well as attendance of the V International Breast Symposium (Duesseldorf, Germany).

 

It should be noted that the training sessions for radiologists require more attention, because, unlike those for cytologists, which are widely used in clinical practice, mammography was only available in the oblast-level center. According to the majority of the physicians, these are going to be completely new equipment items and procedures, so such professionals might be trained several times.

 

YH? How do you plan to cover the entire female population of the Lviv oblast and, most important, to encourage each woman to undergo screening, which is so important?

 

- Audio and video spots have been already developed in the framework of agreemwnt signed with PE Agency 'Partner'; the promotional campaign is actively underway using the oblast media, which very unobstructively, in the form of an appeal of a man or a child encourages a woman to take care of her own health. The are regular measures implemented in the oblast, during which informational materials are distributed among women. A clinical route of a patient is approved by the Order of the Health care Department of LOSA; this is a handout for doctors which "prompts" as to how to act in each specific case.

 

Although it is expected that the number of detected cancer cases will rapidly increase, however, the diagnosis of diseases in the early stages will help to significantly reduced the mortality. We also hope that we can set an example for the whole Ukraine and to provide reasoning for the Ministry of Health care to implement a similar program in the country as a whole.

 

Julia MASYUKEVYCH, specifically for the "YH", Lviv