A national programme to fight cancer, which has already absorbed 850 million euro, is inefficient, shows a report by the Supreme Auditing Chamber.

The number of people who die from cancer in Poland is steadily rising. In 1963, as many as 34,500 Poles died from a malignant tumor, in 1996 – 77,500 people and in 2006 – almost 92,000. Cancer is the second most deadly disease in Poland.

According to a report by the Supreme Auditing Chamber (NIK), a governmental programme to prevent and fight cancer, which was introduced in 2006, is not effective. More people suffer from the disease now and the age of patients is going down.

Men usually suffer from lung cancer (24 per cent), intestine cancer (12 per cent), prostate cancer (11 per cent), bladder cancer (6 per cent) and stomach cancer (5 per cent). Women usually get breast cancer (22 per cent), intestine cancer (10 per cent), lung cancer (8 per cent), endometrial cancer (7 per cent), ovarian cancer (5 per cent) and cervix cancer (5 per cent). (mg/mmj)