Sí has essential cancer treatment equipment

This device, used for both diagnosis and management of various types of cancer, but also of several other diseases, does not exist at the University Clinical Centre in Kosovo (QKUK).

I had to go to Skopje. Unfortunately, to pay twice”, Free Europe Lindita Rugova, a woman in her 50s, earlier affected by breast cancer and rediagnosed later, tells Radio.

I went to a private clinic somewhere around 1,400 euros. That was a year and a half ago, and I don't remember the exact price. The second time, I was at a state institution in northern Macedonia. In both cases I had to pay myself the services I got there”, Rugova says.

In Kosovo, service PET/ The CT is offered at a private health institution.

Contacted by the REL, officials there said the examination with this device cost 1,000 euros and that this amount is covered by the Kosovo Health Insurance Fund, which the latter confirms.

However, officials from this institution say patients should make the term earlier, since the material needed for control in question should be ordered to Turkey.

According to them, at least three patients should undergo this examination and then order the material.

Kosovo Cancer Cases

In Kosovo, according to health authorities, up to 1,500 new cancer cases are recorded each year. But this year, growth is expected.

By the end of the year, [is expected] that the number of new cases will be about 2,000; up to 400 with breast cancer”, KKUK Clinic Director Arben Bislimi's duty to Radio Free Europe.

The most common form in Kosovo is breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men, while the oldest age group affected by this disease is over 50 years old.

While the increase in number of cases, according to doctors, it is consistent with the performance of malignant diseases in general, the challenge, they say, remains the recent discovery of the disease.

When there are doubts about a patient, doctors say it's important that you scan PET/ The CT is done as soon as possible so that the patient's condition can be conveyed and proper therapy described.

PET scan/ The CT identifies cancers in early stages and determines their kind, respectively, whether they're malt or bean. This type of scan is also used in diagnosing neurological and heart disease.

Why doesn't the QKUK have PET/CT?

In the Kosovo Clinical and University Hospital Service (SHSKUK) did not respond to Radio Free Europe's interest in why QKUK has no PET/CT device.

Leaders of some clinics at QKUK say it is absolutely necessary when the number of cancer cases is increasing.

Radiology Clinic Director Shkkanje Nuza tells Radio Free Europe that he does not know why this device has never been bought.

“We, like the clinic, have prepared the application and we will hand it over along with the other planning we have prepared for next year [2023]”, Nuza says.

“Based on multiple requests for PET/ CT, as an advanced diagnostic method, as well as numerous references abroad for this diagnostic method, is a key such device at QKUK”, she points out.

The KKUK's Nuclear Medicine Service, where diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of various diseases, including cancer, likewise say.

“PET/ The CT is necessary to be at QKUK, but, until today, we have failed to have”, says service director Fakir Spahiu.

We've been working in that direction, like nuclear medicine, as a KKUK service... we've asked that we have it as a device, to offer the service”, Spahiu says, not knowing the reasons why it is missing.

He adds that the service he runs also has adequate personnel to operate with PET/CT.

We were in Italy, we were in Turkey... We've seen how it's done, we're kind of prepared. But when the device comes, she also has the training part”, Spahiu says.

“is necessary anyway”, says the task manager of the Oncology Clinic director Arben Bislimi.

What do they say in the Ministry of Health?

At the Ministry of Health in Kosovo, they say they co-operate with KSFUK for the purchase of necessary equipment.

“MSH and SHSKUK have the category of capital investments, where the priority is given to those equipment, which health professionals consider necessary and accessible to their work”, says a written statement by the Ministry of Health sent to the REL.

Referring to the year 2023, the statement also says capital investments will depend on the SKKUK leadership.

According to some doctors' estimates, a PET/ The CT could cost over a million euros.

And its absence at QKUK is not the only problem for Kosovo patients.

In many clinics of this institution, they have to wait for months or years to receive a certain service.

In the absence of personnel, extended patients often have to care for family members.

Moreover, citizens in Kosovo have no health insurance either. Only some may be provided through private companies that offer such services.