New radiotherapy center to be set up in Sotiria hospital

The minister said that oncology medicine was now dispensed at private clinics as well, while future initiatives of the government included the ability to get cancer medication from local drugstores and through orders directly to homes.

The event, on the occasion International Cancer Week which began on October 25, was held by the ministry of health and the general secretariats of information and of family policy & gender equality, and  included addresses by government spokesman Stelios Petsas, Labor Minister Yiannis Vroutsis and president of the Hellenic Anticancer Society, Evangelos Filopoulos.

"Information, awareness and prevention are three things that must become incorporated in our thoughts and way of life, in order to beat cancer," Petsas said, adding that the state, scientists and citizens should work on together.
Kikilias said he had first-hand knowledge of the disease from family members, and noted that the government's priority was to help vulnerable segments of society.

Labor minister Vroutsis noted that 53 pct of cancers are related to work conditions, and he announced that a new draft bill being prepared would introduce stricter health and safety rules at work.

Overall, 400,000 women die of breast cancer annually, Filopoulos said, and those women who undergo preventative mammographies had a low death rate of 4.7 pct, compared to those who don't, at 56 pct. Survival rates after early diagnosis are higher than 80 pct, he said, and is constantly improving. Three detrimental factors a cancer patient faces, he observed, were lack of the national health system's online usability, a dire financial state and lack of any supportive care.