Galery

1

The Greek minister of health came up with a proposal that all Greeks undergo mandatory preventive tests for four highly prevalent types of cancer. According to the plan, those who fail to comply with the test programme and are unfortunate enough to become cancer patients afterwards, will be sanctioned by them only being reimbursed half the cost of treatment.

According to a report by the Eleftheros Typos daily, the plan provides for mandatory mammography tests and PAP smears for women, and blood testing for levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and clinical examination of the prostate for men. Both sexes will have to undergo a colonoscopy and microbiological faecal test.

The test programme will cover people after a certain age, and its tests will be repeated at regular intervals to be determined according to scientific directives. It is designed to provide early diagnosis of the four cancers that are particularly prevalent in Greece: of the breast, cervix, prostate, and colon. Epidemiological studies show that their prevalence is expected to increase over the next 20 years due to smoking and poor diet.

The Health Minister, Panagiotis Kouroublis, told Eleftheros Typos that cancer prevention should be embraced by all Greeks.

"We Greeks are particularly careless regarding our health. The fact that in the recent anticancer research programme, which was meant to cover 60,000 people, only 7,000 actually took part, offers proof of this," he said.

"We intend to make these tests mandatory, and those who fail to respond and subsequently fall ill, will be sanctioned by only partial reimbursement of the costs of their treatment," added Kouroublis.

According to the publication, the ministry is discussing options whereby the patient will be responsible for up to half of the costs of treatment, which will amount to thousands of euro each month.

Kouroublis' statements have sparked sharp reactions from both the Greek public and the Physicians' Union in Athens. Medics say that the plan of the ministry is "piecemeal and it punishes people instead of raising their awareness and convincing them of prevention's positive aspects."