On average, around 2.800 people in Montenegro fall ill with malignant diseases annually, but precise and complete statistics do not exist due to non-reporting of cases by health institutions, personnel and information problems.
On the occasion of World Cancer Day, which was marked last week, the Institute of Public Health (IJZ) responded to "Vijesti" that around 12.100 cases have been entered into the malignant diseases registry, established in 2013 with the aim of monitoring the incidence of cancer and deaths.
However, reports for the last ten years have not yet been published due to incomplete data and the need for additional verification in accordance with international standards for registers.
"In addition to staffing problems that have been partially resolved, the biggest problem for the adequate functioning of the Registry is irregular, incomplete and insufficiently high-quality reporting of cases of illness from health institutions. We note that reporting to the Registry is a legal obligation for all health care providers in Montenegro, regardless of the nature of the ownership of the institutions," the responses state.
The Public Health Institute said that there is no connection between the registry and the Clinical Center of Montenegro and specialized hospitals within the electronic health information system, so they do not have access to the original data on illness and treatment in these health institutions. These factors, they claim, complicate the process of collecting and verifying data.
"The recommendation of experts from leading international institutions in this field, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the European Network of Cancer Registries (ENCR), is to form a reliable trend in the incidence of malignant neoplasms based on the Registry data from 2013 and 2014. Also, more intensive data collection and processing is planned for the 2024 calendar year. The report for the 2014 calendar year will be published by the end of March this year," the IJZ announced.
The State Audit Institution (SAI) also pointed out the problems with the functioning of the malignant neoplasm registry four years ago. The SAI report stated at the time that the existence of a well-developed cancer registry was one of the most important prerequisites for starting all breast, cervical and colon cancer screenings. They pointed out that screening programs can only be implemented in a quality manner based on data from the Cancer Registry, and linking is necessary to avoid calling already ill or deceased individuals and to increase the coverage of reporting.
The Institute of Public Health responded that when it comes to malignant diseases, men most often suffer from lung cancer, followed by colon, prostate, bladder and leukemia. In women, the most common malignant diseases are breast, colon and lung cancer, with cervical cancer in fourth place and uterine cancer in fifth place.
The Public Health Institute reminded that three organized screening programs are currently being implemented in Montenegro in "line with European recommendations and the most modern procedures."
"The National Program for Early Detection of Cervical Cancer and Colon Cancer is implemented at the national level, while the Program for Early Detection of Breast Cancer is implemented in four municipalities in Montenegro (Podgorica, Danilovgrad, Cetinje and Kolašin). In the coming period, it is planned to expand the Program for Early Detection of Breast Cancer to the national level," the response states.
The Public Health Institute claims that experiences in screening programs are mostly positive and a large number of citizens are happy to participate in them again.
"Screening tests predominantly detect premalignant changes and cancers in the asymptomatic phase, which enables early detection, prevention of the occurrence and more successful treatment of malignant diseases," the IJZ reminds.
They said that the main challenge is the lack of information among citizens about the existence of these programs, which is why they are urging them to contact their chosen doctor at the competent health center.
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