The Pulmonale Association today considered it urgent to implement a national lung cancer screening program, accusing the Ministry of Health of having a “lack of will” to carry out “structuring projects”.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, as part of a lung cancer awareness campaign that starts this Wednesday, the president of the Portuguese Association for the Fight Against Lung Cancer (Pulmonale), Isabel Magalhães, stated that it is “urgent to implement a population screening project as a way to change the current paradigm of the disease in Portugal”.
November is lung cancer awareness month and the association recalled that early detection – through screening – of the disease is the solution for patients to have “longer and better quality of life”.
“Most developed countries already have projects implemented at national level or at least pilot projects (…). In Portugal, although the Minister of Health said on television at the end of last year that screening would advance, what is known is that nothing has progressed yet”, said the president of the association.
In December last year, Manuel Pizarro announced in Brussels that the expansion of the oncological screening program for lung cancer would begin in 2023 with pilot projects, after updating a recommendation from the Council of Health Ministers of the European Union.
At the time, the government official said that lung cancer screening would be aimed at heavy smokers.
“(…) There seems to be no justification, because the European Union created a line of funds for Member States to develop pilot projects (…) in the specific case of lung cancer. I don't think it's a matter of lack of funds. I think it's more a matter of a lack of desire to have structuring projects and just continue to manage the day-to-day confusion”, accused the president of Pulmonale.
According to data from the association, lung cancer causes the most deaths in Portugal and Europe.
In 2020, 5.415 Portuguese people were diagnosed with lung cancer, with 4.797 people dying from this diagnosis, which is equivalent to 13 deaths for every 15 cases diagnosed.
“Lung cancer continues to be the oncological pathology that causes the most deaths. This has a lot to do with the fact that patients are diagnosed at a very advanced stage. As a rule, most patients when diagnosed are already at an advanced stage of the disease, which drastically affects the entire prognosis of the disease”, highlighted Isabel Magalhães.
The official recalled that tobacco is associated with around 80% of diagnoses, noting that secondhand smoke, other carcinogenic substances, pollution and some pre-existing diseases can also condition or be the basis for the onset of the disease.
“We have been working intensely on this topic for two years, (…) we have a pilot project prepared, measured, identified with resources, which we have already presented to the Ministry of Health (…) and we will fight for it so that it can be implemented and taken cable,” he added.
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