Starting next year, Polish working women will be required to have regular Pap smears and mammograms, to be funded by the National Health Fund.

“We already pay for cancer prevention. We will meet with the Health Ministry to discuss funding mandatory testing for working women,” says Andrzej Troszynski from the National Health Fund bureau.

The hope is to decrease the number of cancer patients in Poland as the disease, when caught or detected early is preventable and treatable. Statistics show that about 2,000 women die of cervical cancer annually in Poland and 5,000 of breast cancer. (mmj)