Access to prevention remains a luxury in Romania, draws the attention of the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients (FABC), which published the results of the last caravan held in underprivileged environments. The testimony of a patient who discovered the disease through investigations in her village caused tears.
Screening for various diseases still happens in Romania mainly opportunistically. When it comes to serious diseases, such as cancer, every patient who gets to the doctor on time is a life saved. But many others will never have that chance.
The Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients (FABC) presented on Thursday, December 11, 2025, the results of this year’s last caravan (FABC organizes two caravans each year, in disadvantaged environments: “Health comes to you” – focused on detecting diseases such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, etc. and “I haven’t done enough” – which is actually a small screening program for various types of cancer), the data collected showing the effects the lack of preventive interventions in disadvantaged environments.
Romania also enters 2026 with some of the lowest screening rates in the European Union, draws the attention of the Federation of Cancer Patient Associations, showing that only 6.2% of eligible women are tested for cervical cancer – the lowest rate in Europe; less than 10% of eligible women are screened for breast cancer, while for colorectal cancer testing is minimal – just 3%.
Given that almost half of the country’s population lives in the countryside, for many Romanians the caravans that reach them in the village represent the only opportunity to talk to a doctor or benefit from medical investigations.
In the communities visited by FABC’s “I didn’t do enough” caravan in 2025, the volunteers who traveled for three days to the established localities (for consultation, sampling and diagnosis) encountered a reality that was little improved compared to over a decade ago when this effort was started. Data collected this year shows that: 62% of women have never had a breast ultrasound or mammogram; 24% have not had a breast examination in the last three years; 35% have never had an HPV or Pap test; 93% of people over 50 have never had a FIT test for colorectal cancer.
“Where the medical system does not reach, such projects must reach”
“It’s not about lack of interest. People come, get information, ask questions and come back for checks. The problem is difficult access: distance, costs, lack of transport or lack of equipment or specialists in local hospitals. Where the medical system does not reach, such projects must reach”pointed out Cezar Irimia, FABC president, during the debate that took place on Thursday, December 11, 2025, at the Parliament Palace, with the theme of analyzing the results obtained in the 12th year of the caravan and the ways in which things can be improved.
Although in the end people were happy that they finally had the opportunity to find out how they are doing with their health, at this year’s caravan the first reactions were not exactly what was expected, FABC representatives testified. The citizens met the volunteers with skepticism, believing that there was an electoral interest at the center, and they could hardly be convinced that it was a screening program, unrelated to the political world.
Investigations that most patients have done for the first time
Romania invests in prevention only 24.6 euros per inhabitant, eight times less than the EU average and 17 times less than countries such as Germany or Austria, state the representatives of the Federation of Associations of Cancer Patients, and the situation is reflected in the disastrous figures that put us at the top of the mortality rankings. In our country, an early diagnosis is often the result of the patient’s initiative and not of any screening program, for this reason the caravans, even if they solve a very small part of the need, have become a necessity.
This year, the volunteers who participated in the “I didn’t do enough” caravan reached eight localities in five counties: Argeș – Priboieni and Ștefan cel Mare; Olt – Scarisoara; Brașov – Șoarș and Dumbrăvița; Covasna – Barcani and Zagon; Vâlcea – Mihăesti.
During the caravan, patients benefited from: blood and urine analyses, breast ultrasounds, urological consultations with ultrasound, tests for occult bleeding (FIT test), blood pressure, blood sugar and weight assessments and risk questionnaires for chronic diseases, the investigations being carried out by specialist doctors, nurses and volunteers, in partnership with medical laboratories and health organizations.
In 12 years of the caravan, through FABC and its partners, more than 13,600 patients were tested, more than 35 cases of cancer were detected and thousands of patients were identified who discovered that they suffer from various diseases that require treatment, in many cases it is an emergency. Patients on the verge of diabetic coma, patients with very high blood pressure values, patients with severe anemia requiring blood transfusions, etc., were detected.
“From chemotherapy I was going to the pizzeria. I was supporting myself not to fall”
Among the patients who discovered in the caravan that they have a more serious health problem was a woman from Cuza Vodă town, Galați county (video from minute 1:16:01). It was happening in 2023, and the woman confessed then, very shortly after the doctor told her that she would have to do more thorough investigations, that eight years ago she had also gone through a serious diagnosis. Other members of his family were not so lucky.
“Eight years ago I had an operation, he diagnosed me with a uterine tumor. Since then I haven’t had much time for myself. My children were always gone, I had to work. I lost my mother at 82, breast cancer, my father – skin cancer and my sister at 44, she left six children. With stomach cancer. Now, the doctor said that there will be a problem with the right breast. He gave me the go ahead. I expected it, but I’m still hoping to God that it will be okay, so I can see my grandchildren. I have a grandson to raise and I hope to have time to live here for a long, long, long time. Let’s meet again and let’s be good”, said the woman in October 2023, when she received the not good news that she was suspected of breast cancer.
In 2024, the patient came to tell her story again at the balance sheet of the caravan, replaying a small part of the experience of the past year since the first alarm signal.
“I work at the pizzeria in Cuza Vodă commune. You guys came with a caravan, but I don’t call it a caravan anymore, you know, now I call them my guardian angels, because thanks to you I’m here today. (…) In a week I was diagnosed – third degree malignant cancer, galloping – and I said: it’s good that you discovered, Mihaela, let’s see! In the following week I went to Fundeni, to Mr. Bacalbaşa Nicolae, I want to bow before you. I was with a backpack on my back and nothing else. In the morning at 8.00 he saw me and at 11.00 I was put in the gym. I was operated on, after 3 days I was sent home. They ate my soles, I told him – make me feel better, I’m going to pizza, I have to work. But I said this: I have to live, you know! I love that I wake up every day and I want to live because of you.
I want to tell you that I bow before you, to all the doctors. I didn’t think I would have so much strength to walk laughing, with my forehead held high, after so much treatment. I don’t look in the mirror, you know. My hair fell out. I’m a baby at 57 years old, but next year, if you’re going to invite me again, I’m going to go to the most expensive salon and I’m going to be the most well-groomed. I promise!”said the patient, in 2024.
Two years after the diagnosis, Mrs. Mihaela came before the doctors again, longing to thank them.
“You should know that I asked myself the question today, when I entered your home, through this door, and I said – what have I done to God to deserve so much love from you, from everyone? Dear, beautiful people, such power as you have given me does not exist!” said the woman, with tears in her eyes and apologizing that she doesn’t know how to say “big words”.
She owes her life to the doctors who came to her in the village, “otherwise I was there, in my attic, next to my sister and my loved ones, if I wasn’t discovered in time”, continued the patient.
Things, although they seem simple said quickly before, were actually much more difficult to carry out. The patient told again that she left with a simple backpack to the hospital in Bucharest, “and with a small card, I also had a bitter salary”. After the operation, he arrived in Brăila, to the oncologist, to start chemotherapy.
“I arrived in Brăila, in Oncology, to Dr. Boldeanu, may God give him health! At 4:00 a.m. we left Cuza Vodă, at 7:00 a.m. we entered yours and at 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. we were back in Cuza Vodă, at the pizzeria. In chemotherapy. And in order not to fall down, I controlled my stomach and made pizza, because I had to get a salary. I have a grandson, who will become a great footballer in time, I hope, who has promised me that he will take me outside and make me much better. But now maybe I’ll stay here and never leave. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart!”, repeated the woman.
“We work to support ourselves, we leave health behind”
The patient insisted on correcting the doctors who pointed out that most of the patients investigated during the caravan were undergoing certain analyzes for the first time. It was also his case, who had his first mammogram at the age of 56.
“You are very right. That’s how it is with us, in communes, in villages, we don’t leave. We just work. We work to support ourselves and our family, we leave health behind. But now know that I like it, life is so beautiful that I will not leave here! I will come here again. Even if I’m going to bite you, this way, harder, I’m going to come again”added the patient who during the discussion confessed that next year she will also have a big event in her family, she will see one of her sons-in-law.
Often, the woman added, people in the countryside say they don’t have money to take care of their health. “You should know that we, the country people, run away from the doctor and always say – I have no money, that I have to go to the doctor and give money!” the woman also said, urging her peers to approach the doctors with confidence, as soon as possible.
Through the new measures adopted in health, it was also discussed during the debate, from now on, hospitals will be able to run their own caravans in medically non-covered areas, the services thus provided, if the health units meet certain conditions, being able to be settled as outpatient services.
