Slovak cancer patients travel across country for treatment

In order to get treatment in time and avoid long waiting times, many cancer patients from central Slovakia have to travel long distances to receive radiation therapy in Bratislava and Košice, the Pravda daily reported on Tuesday. In a fight against time, patients face long delays to get to radiation therapy at oncology centres in central Slovakia. The longest waiting times are currently in the Banská Bystrica-based Faculty Hospital and in Nitra Hospital, where patients have to wait for two or three months, or are sent elsewhere. Patients from Prešov Hospital typically wait one month, or are sent to Michalovce and Košice. "If a patient doesn't undergo treatment, the tumour ... won't wait. It can grow, which can result in the worsening of the patient's condition", said oncologist Ľubica Počtová from Liptovský Mikuláš, adding that patients can usually afford to wait for a week, but a month could have fatal consequences. The Pravda daily observed that there are 14 facilities that provide radiation therapy in larger towns and cities across Slovakia. The number of such facilities remains the same, even though the number of oncology patients grows steadily. Doctors report that there are as many as 22,000 new cancer patients every year. The Health Ministry believes that the number of radiation centres is sufficient at the moment, however.