In an open letter addressed to the Ministry of Health and CNAS, the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients (FABC) points out the difficult access of cancer patients to radiotherapy services and calls for urgent solutions. According to Cezar Irimia, the president of FABC, in several counties in the country there is a complete lack of radiotherapy centers, and a major infrastructure deficit is registered in Muntenia and in the South-East of the country. Thus, the resources in Bucharest become overloaded. The representatives of the Federation ask the authorities to use all resources, regardless of whether they come from the state or private environment. There are also problems with medicines.
The capacity “on paper” would be higher than the actual one
According to the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients (FABC), 55% of patients diagnosed with cancer have radiotherapy as a treatment indication, and the annual treatment requirement in the Bucharest-Ilfov area and neighboring counties alone is at least 10,000 patients/year. However, only in the first three quarters of 2025, the radiotherapy centers in Bucharest and Ilfov would have treated more than 9,000 patients within the National Radiotherapy Program.
“The treatment capacity, regardless of whether it is in public or private centers, cannot be considered sufficient from any point of view. The authorities claim that radiotherapy services in Bucharest-Ilfov are provided through approximately 25 accelerators, of which 13 are in public centers. That is, more than half of the services should be provided to patients in public centers, under conditions of speed and increased quality of the medical act.
However, reality shows us that this capacity is only on paper and the public centers in the Bucharest-Ilfov area currently only cover a little over 10% of the need for radiotherapy services, compared to the value of settlements from the national program. This percentage has been continuously decreasing in recent years, with 15% in 2023 and 12% in 2024“, say FABC representatives.
Pressure on the centers in Bucharest and Ilfov
At the same time, I say that, due to the major infrastructure deficit of this type felt in Muntenia and the South-East region of the country, greater pressure is placed on the centers of the Capital and the bordering area.
“The territorial and demographic base served by the Bucharest-Ilfov centers is much more extensive. In the counties of Călărași, Ialomița, Giurgiu and Dâmbovița, which cumulatively have a population of over 1,300,000 people (over 50% of the population of the Municipality of Bucharest), there are no radiotherapy centers”.
Requirements to the Ministry of Health and CNAS
Through an open letter, FABC asks the Ministry of Health and CNAS to consider other resources.
“Any additional resource that can be used within the National Oncology Program is vital for patients who have an indication for radiotherapy, regardless of whether it comes from the public or private sector.
In this way, we appeal to you to take note of the real situation of the need for radiotherapy and to co-opt within the program all the resources available in the health system, without taking into account their origin – public or private”.
Access to medicines, another problem
Problems related to access to radiation therapy are not the only ones facing cancer patients, FABC representatives say. In some cases, treatment is obtained in court.
“Patients fear that if their treatment is not available in time, their chances of survival decrease. Very often, they are prescribed a drug that is not settled, and so they have to go to court to request a presidential order from the judge, to get access to the drug they need. In other situations, if the drug is available, the patient has to wait for the update of the national drug prescription protocol, the purchase by the hospital, the allocation budget funds, etc. — an administrative chain that, if not synchronized in time, can lead to delays of weeks or even months until the drug actually becomes available to the patient“, said Alin Bujan, executive director of FABC for “Adevărul”.
