To mark International Childhood Cancer Day, Greece launched the national register for children and teenagers with cancerous ailments.
On Monday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met two children that have recovered from cancer, Nefeli and Philippos, to mark the launch of the register.
Registration of patients is mandatory and is done by the doctor presiding over the case, via the e-prescription system, and includes information on demographs, diagnosis and other factors.
"I will never tire of saying that medicine's progress, especially in child and teenage cancers, is truly impressive. In our country we have an excellent workforce, very extensive experience, excellent facilities, incredible doctors, private and public sector partnership, with very good results," he said.
Πέρυσι, σε συζήτηση με παιδιά που νίκησαν τον καρκίνο, ανέλαβα τη δέσμευση να δημιουργηθεί, επιτέλους, το Εθνικό Μητρώο Νεοπλασιών Παιδικής και Εφηβικής ηλικίας. Σήμερα είχα τη χαρά να τους ενημερώσω ότι το Μητρώο είναι πλέον σε λειτουργία. Τους ευχαριστώ για την όμορφη συζήτηση! pic.twitter.com/lXQ7CXLZyO
— Prime Minister GR (@PrimeministerGR) February 15, 2021
The PM stressed that the goal must be "to beat childhood and adolescent cancers."
He also expressed confidence that the register will allow experts to determine things like “genetic predisposition and how to deal with it more effectively.”
The register is expected to yield information on:
- The prevalence of the cancer
- Its age distribution
- How the disease develops
- Outcomes and the effectiveness and safety of various treatments
- The evaluations of health services
*More on GCT: Children’s cancer researcher named Woman of the Year
