Health Minister KopaczThe government wants family doctors to make obligatory blood tests as part of an early detection drive against leukemia.
Blood tests are crucial in early detection of various kinds of cancer and blood diseases. Many illnesses develop over the years, showing no symptoms at the beginning, says Professor Jerzy Holowiecki from the Warsaw Cancer Centre.
Urszula Jaworska, who won a dramatic fight against leukemia, recalls she first learned something was wrong with her thanks to a basic blood tests.
Poland’s health minister Ewa Kopacz wants blood tests to be obligatorily ordered at regular intervals by family doctors. Minister Kopacz said at a conference “Leukemia – find out if it’s not in your blood,” that she is preparing an official document with tasks for family practitioners, which include obligatory blood tests.
More than 2,500 people throughout Poland have had their blood tested as part of a leukemia prevention campaign. Eight hundred did not have correct readings. One in ten people required treatment.
Blood tests used to be obligatory since 1996 but later the rules were changed as part of an austerity program and their number has dropped. (kk)