According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cancer is the gretest in the world today. The forecasts are sorrowful. More than 10 million cases of oncologic diseases are registered annually in the world today. And by the year 2013 their number may reach 15 million. Specialists and scientists are making progress in searching for effective methods of treatment. The problem remains as topical as it was before. And the more people will know about cancer the faster they will learn to resist it. And it is for this purpose that February 4
th is marked annually as International Day for Fighting Cancer.
More than 2.5 million oncologic patients are registered in Russia today. 300,000 people die annually from cancer. The death-rate as regards oncologic patients is not going down, and the reason is that the number of modern clinics with relevant equipment and medicines is insufficient. True, the national programme, guaranteeing the financing and the purchasing of high-technology equipment and preparations for oncologic clinics was launched last year. The federal programme, aimed at searching for new approaches for the treatment of oncologic diseases is still operational.
According to statistics, about 6 per cent of patients, who were diagnosed for cancer for the first time, give up medical treatment. They do not believe that it is possible to help them. It is really very hard to treat such people. Specialists say though that the efficiency of medical treatment and the survival of onco-patients are directly linked with their psychological condition. They need the support of people around as much as medicines. The around-the-clock telephone centre for onco-patients has been working in Russia for 2 years now. It was established on private initiative. "Any person may call there from any part of Russia from a mobile or fixed-line telephone", the chairwoman of the board of directors of the Russian Association of Onco-Psychologists Inga Kolozhvari says:
"All calls are free of charge. They come in to the number 8 800 100 0191, and our organization - the "SO-deistviye" project pays for all calls. This is around-the-clock line, working without days off all over Russia. Clinical psychologists answer the calls".
All calls are anonymous. The length of the conversation is not limited. The psychologist should be certain that an urgent help is offered to the patient, and only after this is done, the talk is over. And if a patient needs a face-to-face consultation with the psychologist, his coordinates are given to a specialist, who can meet with him. For this more than 50 psychologists from all parts of Russia have already undergone special training at the courses of onco-psychologists. The Association of Onco-Psychologists pays for their work, and patients are informed on that score. They go to a specialist, knowing that they will not have to pay for the consultation.
"People should know that they are not left alone, and they will regard us as one team," Inga Kolozhvari says.
The "So-deistviye" project plans to shortly open in each region in Russia centres for help, and then to establish contacts with specialists abroad. Lithuanian and Byelorussian specialists have already undergone training in Russia.
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