Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov has a systematic approach to all undertakings. The amounts he donates to fight against cancer exceed the funds provided by the national budget. Akhmetov applies his formula of success even in charity…

To meet Rinat Akhmetov – a businessman well-known beyond Ukraine, to ask a personal question and receive a sincere reply, to share concerns and find hope for solution of burning problems, to believe in future and see the light at the end of the tunnel… Many people really dream about it. But the honor was given only to TB doctors, which day by day see the eyes of patients without hope yet keep encouraging them to recover. So often did they insist not to give up and fight even knowing that sometimes the struggle was useless. No doctor can say these dreadful words to his patient, for while there is hope there is life.

Well, patients with cancer will have much more hope for recovery soon. Rinat Akhmetov’s Foundation has donated huge money to buy exceptional, highly accurate and low-toxic equipment that helps diagnose cancer at earliest stages. This is almost a 100% guarantee of recovery.

The MP of the Party of Regions came personally to the National Institute of Cancer to announce his commitment. TB specialist from all over Ukraine came to meet the benefactor. DailyUA reports on details of the meeting between the businessman and reputed medical scientists. The first minutes showed that Akhmetov is well aware of the situation and the problems the oncology field is facing. A systematic and well-considered approach to achieving set goals is easy to see.

“Ukraine has an official record of 910,267 cancer patients”, calls Rinat Akhmetov dreadful figures out.

As a journalist, I want to point out that no official has ever given this exact figure. Statistics are normally rounded up/down, apparently to memorize better. The precise figure is this case simply underlines the importance of each life that might be hanging in the balance.

“Every year adds 160,000. Annually cancer takes away lives of 90,000 Ukrainians. It’s horrible”, says the businessman. “There is an immediate question – what should we do? The answer is never to give up, fight, and prevail. But what do we have to prevail? On the one hand, there are good and top-skilled doctors, on the other hand – limited technical capacities.

I think you are aware that cancer morbidity in Europe and the USA is higher compared to Ukraine, while the mortality is lower, he said to the top Ukrainian doctors. Why? Because they invest much in early diagnostics and effective treatment. Having realized that, I thought – what can I do? Before, when I heard that someone had cancer, I thought the situation was hopeless  But then I learnt that the first cancer phase can be cured 90-100%, the second – in some 70-80%, and the third – in 30-35%. I decided that we need to invest in early diagnostics and effective treatment. Because a person can recover almost in 100% case on early cancer stages. For this reason, I decided to provide $40m for fighting cancer with $20m to be allocated on Donbass region, $10m – on the National Institute of Cancer, and another $10m – on Western Ukraine”, said the President of FDU…

“This is an outstanding event for the medicine as well as for the country as a whole. You can hardly overestimate its economical and social value,” added emotionally Tatyana Bakhteyeva, the chair of the Verkhovna Rada Healthcare Committee. “Rinat Akhmetov has already told he donated UAH 200m to purchase exceptional high-tech equipment for Ukraine. I will give you some details. Ukraine will have two PET scanners (positron emission tomography scanners – editor's note). One of them will be purchased for the National Kyiv Institute of Cancer to provide free medical services for all regions of our country. The second one will be placed in Donbass region to provide services to patients from the South and East of Ukraine.

The value of PET scanner is undoubtedly high for the oncologists. They are well aware of specialized molecular medicine technology enabling to obtain unique diagnostic data. Images produced by the technology show physiological processes taking place at a molecular level. This information helps doctors get characteristics of many vital processes in a human organism and assess conditions of patient’s organs and tissues”.

“This equipment will be a solid basis for successful cancer treatment,” continued Tatyana Bakhteyeva. “Unlike traditional diagnostic technologies (computer tomography, magnetic resonance tomography, and ultrasonic scanning) showing structural modifications, PET method helps assess function of a tissue or an organ, because dysfunction comes earlier than any structural changes. These days USA numbers 2,000 PET scanners and Europe - 800. Paris alone has 18 PETs, Moscow 15, but Ukraine hasn’t got any yet”.

“We often mention tough situation in the state healthcare system and lack of funding for oncology and TB programs. Here are some figures. The country earmarked UAH 260m for oncology programs in 2007 and UAH 280m in 2008. Just UAH 130m out of this sum will be allocated to purchase technological equipment for oncology departments. Compared to the state funds, the donation made by Foundation for Development of Ukraine is significant for the whole Ukrainian healthcare system, as you see. I am strongly convinced that this deed will be highly appreciated by both medical community and all Ukrainians. I want to remind that Akhmetov’s Foundation has been engaged in combating TB in Ukraine for 5 years through launch of the program “Stop TB” and UAH 100m donations to fight TB. May you always be healthy!” expressed Ms Bakhteyeva her best regards to employees and the President of the Foundation.

The initiative is taken over by Igor Shchepotin, director of National Institute of Cancer. “Leading oncologists from all regions of Ukraine and the best oncologists of large medical centers are present here. I am pretty confident and hope that colleagues will share my confidence that your investment in oncology is going to be one of the most successful in your life. It will be generously repaid to you. It will be repaid by the most valuable thing - the health of Ukrainians”, assured Mr Shchepotin and touched on the current situation. “This equipment will help improve cancer situation in a short term. What do we have in our country now? We have the highest morbidity and mortality in Europe. We regularly compare our performance against results of our foreign colleagues and I can say that Ukraine demonstrates recovery rate 2.5 times worse than in other countries. What are the reasons? Is it because we lack some skills or knowledge, or we have to learn anything else? Or is it because we are poor surgeons and we cannot manage cutting-edge technologies? We don’t lag behind by the quality of surgery or drug treatment, but we are much behind because our material and technical base fails to provide modern medical services. To my mind, we will see the first results of these investments in a year and a half”.

“This is the first time in my whole long life that I witness such an event. Neither individuals nor companies have ever donated so much money to save lives of Ukrainians”, supported his colleague Hrihoriy V. Bondar, director of Donestk Tumor Center. “Ukraine demonstrates low rates of early cancer diagnostics, although early cancer detection rate has grown 5% over the last decade. These are patients who receive efficient aid and undergo complete treatment course. But we still do not have equipment necessary for early diagnostics and treatment”.

“There is also another point”, continued the experienced doctor. “Along with the high price, the equipment is also very sophisticated and expensive to run and maintain. For instance, we have two linear accelerators in Donetsk which have been in use for two and a half years. Maintenance of the facilities costs about UAH 3m a year. Therefore, when acquiring such expensive equipment you should bear in mind the need to maintain it regularly and ensure preventive check-ups, adjustment, and repair. So, we have to think where to find money to keep up continuous operation of the equipment.

“I am very grateful to Rinat Akhmetov for his attention to Donetsk Tumor Center, for our center will also receive a cyber knife which ensures irradiation of tumors of 2.5mm to 3cm with almost no harm for the whole body. A tumor is irradiated within 30-40 minutes with one operation being well enough. The tumor dies then, while other organs remain harmless. This equipment is very efficient when treating brain, liver, stomach, and pancreas. Today, surgery operation on pancreas takes 5-6 hours. It is a huge work done by surgeons, huge efforts of oncologists but with a minor effect.

“All civilized countries have early cancer diagnostics as a priority as only early diagnostics can guarantee successful treatment. It is possible to destroy cancer tumor of 2mm to 3 cm at early stages without surgical interference just by applying a cyber knife. High-accuracy equipment can both show the precise location of a tumor and define its borders. Unfortunately, we haven’t had such equipment in our country before,” said Hrihoriy Bondar.

Then, as if apologizing for the “special” attitude Rinat Akhmetov has to the Donbass Region, he added: “I wish there were less sick people everywhere in Ukraine. Today we have mentioned a figure of 160,000 cancer-affected patients, but I want you to know that Donbass numbers 16,000 of them with lung cancer being number one on the list. Do you know the situation in Donbass? Only 9% of 2,300 patients undergo radical treatment. We usually deal with inveterate cases which are hard to treat. I wish my colleagues every success in diagnostics and treatment and I would like to thank all individuals who donate money to tackle the problem”.

Rinat Akhmetov was the next to take the floor after the recognized doctor. “It has been mentioned here that the equipment acquired is very expensive to maintain,” Mr Akhmetov said than seemed to have just taken another important decision. “You needn’t worry. You won’t have to seek or ask money for maintenance of the expensive equipment. It is none of your problem. All problems will be solved by the Foundation for Development of Ukraine. Your task is to cure people. The main point is to ensure the treatment is efficient.” These words were accompanied by a burst of applause.

“The problem mentioned by the doctor from Donetsk is obviously well known to all leaders of medical establishments. I am not a specialist in the sphere,” continued Mr Akhmetov as the applause faded away. “That is why in my decision to buy the equipment I was governed by advice of professionals and decided to buy something which is of major importance. I’d like to add that we will keep on addressing this problem and provide assistance all the time”.

“I really want the funds donated to battle cancer to be used immediately. I want the investment to deliver positive results straight away. There is no problem of funding. There is a problem of limited capabilities”.

“This is the first time we cooperate with Rinat Akhmetov’s Foundation”, joined the discussion Igor Shchepotin and tried to explain what limited capabilities in this noble undertaking mean. “I’d like to point out that cooperation with the Foundation for Development of Ukraine is based on quite different rules. We used to ask authorities to donate money, but here we saw quite an opposite attitude: the Foundation urges us to speed up the process. We’ve held preliminary talks with designers, suppliers, and foreign organizations. We expect to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony in a year.”

“I want everything to be done within the shortest time possible,” noted Mr Akhmetov. “If you need excellence courses for domestic specialists, the Foundation will provide assistance here as well. We won’t leave anything unanswered”.

“I don’t think there will be any problems with specialists”, assured director of Donetsk Tumor Center. “Two thirds of our specialists are educated in the USA, Sweden, Germany, Belarus, and Russia. If we had the equipment today, we could start using it straight away. We are currently preparing suitable premises for it…”

“While the purchase of equipment for Donetsk and Kyiv is a done matter, new equipment for Western Ukraine is still an open issue”, pointed out Mr Akhmetov in a business-like manner. “I have only mentioned the sum of investments, but I’d like the specialists of the western region to reveal their most pressing issues. It is up to the western Ukraine to decide which cities need our assistance most and what kind of assistance they need. We are open for their feedback. I know that oncologists from other regions of Ukraine are present here as well and I would like to remind that you are always welcome in our Foundation, and we will respond to your concerns too. We will provide assistance and try to solve your problems in cooperation with you.

“I hate talking about charity”, said Mr Akhmetov. “Whenever I helped people or did something, I’ve never spoken of it. I don’t want it to be regarded as my PR, but now I see that problems requiring immediate solutions are worth speaking of. We have plenty of systematic problems in our country. If we want to solve them, we must shout out loud, not just speak. We should say: let us join our efforts; there are some problems and some obstacles but we can get over them. If people know that the first and second cancer stages can be treated almost completely, they will not have fear for oncological diseases. That is why early diagnostics should be in place”.

“I want the investment to produce positive results … as soon as yesterday. I don’t want people to suffer. We can’t sit and wait, or spend long time choosing which area to invest in because problems are everywhere. People may die while we are discussing the issue. I’m used to making prompt and efficient decisions. My formula of success is making decisions promptly and reducing losses to minimum. Our task is to help people as soon as possible.

“Another point is that you needn’t worry about effective spending of the allocated funds. Let me assure you that the money will be used very effectively. You should remember that I am a businessman and I know the way to control this process. Let’s just enjoy the sun and think of the way to combat cancer in Ukraine…”

By Irina Lvova, DailyUA, 11 July, 2008, 14:00
http://www.daily.com.ua/articles/3/2008-07-64831.html