The patients asked to consider the possibility of treating anemia in an oncological dispensary

The All-Russian Union of Patients (VSP) has asked the Ministry of Health and the Federal MHI Fund to include anemia, which occurs during cancer treatment, in a separate type of concomitant therapy.

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The VSP noted that the incidence of anemia in cancer is 75%, but oncologists are forced to refer such patients to hematologists rather than treat both the underlying and concomitant diseases.

"Currently, payment for the treatment of anemia is made from the budget of the compulsory medical insurance for the hematology profile, which creates difficulties in allocating funding and may cause fines from insurance companies based on the non—profile code," the patient organization emphasized.

In the round-the-clock hospital, the number of cases of providing cancer patients with drugs for the treatment of anemia is low, Anton Snegovoy, head of the Department of Drug Treatment of tumors at the Lopatkin Research Institute of Urology and Interventional Radiology, told Izvestia. According to him, the proportion of patients who receive medicines in day hospitals is increasing, but their number is far from the real need.

"The current mechanism for paying for anemia treatment doesn't really work very well. An oncologist has barriers to its use, he cannot carry out comprehensive treatment," said Snegovoy.

Olga Kozlova, head of the polyclinic department of the Euroonco federal Network of expert oncology, recalled that if anemia in cancer patients is not treated, the complication can reduce the effectiveness of antitumor therapy, lead to cardiovascular complications and negatively affect immunity.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Burden account: patients ask for mandatory treatment of anemia in cancer therapy