Cancer patients asked doctors and officials not to\u00a0steal their medications. Next to\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Health building a\u00a0magician in\u00a0a\u00a0doctor\u2019s white coat demonstrated the \u00abtricks\u00bb that happen every day with medications at\u00a0the oncology hospitals. Patients demanded absolute transparency from the ministry in\u00a0the distribution and use of\u00a0medications procured at\u00a0the expense of\u00a0the state budget. Despite annual increases in\u00a0expenditures for chemotherapy drugs, the majority of\u00a0patients have never seen them.<\/p>\n
\u00abWhen my\u00a0mom was diagnosed with cancer, the doctor gave me\u00a0a\u00a0long list of\u00a0drugs and medications. It\u00a0even included cotton and sterile liquid, which means they don\u2019t have anything,\u00bb<\/em> recalls Aleksey<\/strong>, whose mother died two years ago in\u00a0the Kiev Oncology Center on\u00a0Verkhovynna Street. \u00abOf\u00a0course, I\u00a0immediately bought everything. Over the course of\u00a0my\u00a0mother\u2019s illness\u00a0I spent more than UAH 20\u00a0000\u00a0on chemotherapy drugs. When my\u00a0mother died\u00a0I began to\u00a0inquire into the details of\u00a0her treatment. Imagine my\u00a0shock when\u00a0I received an\u00a0official letter that indicated that my\u00a0mother had received medications at\u00a0the expense of\u00a0the state for a\u00a0sum of\u00a0almost UAH 8000. But I\u00a0have checks confirming that\u00a0I bought these drugs myself!! My\u00a0mother did not receive a\u00a0single pill from the state budget, although she worked honestly in\u00a0medicine for forty years. I\u00a0am convinced that these medications were simply resold and \u2018written off\u2019 for my\u00a0mom.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n In\u00a0the course of\u00a0UCAB\u2019s research, it\u00a0became clear that people are afraid to\u00a0speak publicly about problems in\u00a0cancer hospitals out of\u00a0a\u00a0fear that they will be\u00a0treated worse or\u00a0released home to\u00a0die. All of\u00a0those who agreed to\u00a0speak with patient organizations confessed that they do\u00a0not receive any medications. Doctors name sky-high prices for drugs and hand out the business cards of\u00a0pharmacy chain representatives or\u00a0some mysterious couriers who bring medications to\u00a0patients at\u00a0home without checks or\u00a0invoices.<\/p>\n \u00abI\u00a0go through chemotherapy at\u00a0the oncology center on\u00a0Verkhovynna Street. One course costs about UAH 12\u00a0000. But I\u00a0learned that the oncology center is\u00a0sufficiently supplied with the drug that\u00a0I was buying with my\u00a0own money. Not once in\u00a0several years of\u00a0treatment have\u00a0I received it\u00a0from them, although I\u00a0am from Kiev,\u00bb<\/em> says Dmitriy<\/strong>, 42, a\u00a0cancer patient. \u00abSo\u00a0what happens to\u00a0the medications that the state buys and distributes to\u00a0a\u00a0medical facility? I\u00a0spoke with other patients, and everyone buys medicine at\u00a0their own expense.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n There are UAH 230 million in\u00a0the 2013 budget for medications to\u00a0treat adult cancer patients.\u00a0216 million are allocated for children. Just one oncology center on\u00a0Verkhovynna receives medications for UAH 60\u00a0million annually. Obviously, it\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0huge temptation for dishonest doctors that can always write off the medications as\u00a0used or\u00a0damaged, and instead resell them to\u00a0the same patient.<\/p>\n \u00abMedications for my\u00a0father cost more than 30\u00a0000 dollars for a\u00a0course. I\u00a0don\u2019t know where we\u00a0will find the money,\u00bb<\/em> says Olga<\/strong> in\u00a0despair, the daughter of\u00a0a\u00a0cancer patient. \u00abIf\u00a0only a\u00a0part of\u00a0the drugs were provided in\u00a0the hospital…but we\u00a0don\u2019t receive any help. We\u00a0will probably have to\u00a0sell our apartment to\u00a0save Dad.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n \u00abWe\u00a0demand from Mrs. Bogatyreva to\u00a0issue a\u00a0special order for the major oncology center physicians: to\u00a0post a\u00a0bulletin with a\u00a0list of\u00a0all drugs purchased at\u00a0the information board in\u00a0the hospital monthly. Then patients will be\u00a0able to\u00a0see which medications they can receive from the state budget,\u00bb<\/em> states Olga Stefanyshina<\/strong>, executive director of\u00a0the patient organization UCAB<\/strong>. \u00abIf\u00a0doctors continue to\u00a0force patients to\u00a0buy medications that have already been given to\u00a0the hospital, we\u00a0will initiate inspection by\u00a0the authorities.\u00bb<\/em><\/p>\n A\u00a0booklet that included the stories of\u00a0cancer patients was also presented during the event. It\u2019s publication was supported by\u00a0the International Renaissance Foundation. A\u00a0copy of\u00a0the booklet was handed personally to\u00a0Ms. Bogatyryova together with the letter.<\/p>\n Information:<\/strong> Cancer patients asked doctors and officials not to\u00a0steal their medications. Next to\u00a0the Ministry of\u00a0Health building a\u00a0magician in\u00a0a\u00a0doctor\u2019s white coat demonstrated the \u00abtricks\u00bb that happen every day with medications at\u00a0the oncology hospitals. Patients demanded absolute transparency from the ministry in\u00a0the distribution and use of\u00a0medications procured at\u00a0the expense of\u00a0the state budget. Despite annual increases in\u00a0expenditures for chemotherapy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11638"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11643,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11638\/revisions\/11643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patients.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCancer is\u00a0the second leading cause of\u00a0death of\u00a0Ukrainians after cardiovascular diseases. Every day 239 people die from cancer, or\u00a0ten hourly.
\nNow more than 1\u00a0million Ukrainians are on\u00a0the cancer registry. Approximately UAH 450 are allocated per year for the treatment of\u00a0one patient. \u0422he cost of\u00a0chemotherapy treatment can reach up\u00a0to\u00a0UAH 50-100 thousand or\u00a0even more.
\nEvery third Ukrainian oncology patient dies within a\u00a0year of\u00a0diagnosis. In\u00a0Ukraine, the 5-year survival rate does not exceed\u00a041%, while in\u00a0France it\u00a0is\u00a060%, and\u00a064% in\u00a0the U.S.
\nIn\u00a0Ukraine, one in\u00a0four children with cancer dies within the first year after diagnosis.
\nUp\u00a0to\u00a060% of\u00a0all cancer patients do\u00a0not receive special treatment, which explains a\u00a0high mortality rate in\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"