Dear friends!

We all know very well that oncology is an enormous problem in our country. Ukraine has 910,267 officially registered cancer patients. Every year adds another 160,000. Every year 90,000 die of cancer. This is a disaster!

Today we are here to discuss cancer problems in Donetsk Oblast. The situation is horrible.

Donetsk Oblast has 98,116 officially registered cancer patients. And every year adds another 15,000. Last year alone 9,280 died of cancer. It’s horrible. It’s disaster!

Just think about these figures. Donetsk Region alone has 100,000 cancer patients! And every year adds another 15,000! Every cancer patient has a family and relatives. All of them worry, suffer, but, above all, they hope…  They all pin their hopes on science, medicine, and a miracle. Everybody with the illness hopes to recover. Hopes to overcome the disease.

I believe that the hope for recovery and life has the right to exist. Why do I think so? Because I’ve asked the cancer doctors a hundred times if “cancer is a final verdict or not?” And a hundred times did they tell convincingly “cancer is not a final verdict”. Cancer is a disease people can and must fight against. Cancer is a disease people can and must overcome. In fact, Europe and the USA have more cancer patients than Ukraine, but fewer people die of it there. Because these nations invest much in early cancer diagnostics and effective treatment. So, 70% of cancer patients recover.

What do we have? We have UAH 280m. This is the oncology budget of the whole Ukraine. This amount includes UAH 30m earmarked to buy new equipment. And this is it for the whole country! Sorry for a comparison, but the money is not enough to treat cold let alone cancer. 

I want to repeat that we have excellent doctors yet they are working under horrible conditions. We must require high quality from them but for that, good conditions for effective work and effective treatment must be in place. Because by helping doctors we save sick people.

Dear friends! I said in Kiev that I had provided UAH 200m to fight oncology diseases. UAH 50m will be allocated on the National Institute of Cancer in Kiev, and another UAH 50m – on the Western Ukraine. UAH 100m will be given to Donbass including UAH 50m to DOKTMO Donetsk Regional In-Patient Medical Association to create a PET-Center, and UAH 50m to Donetsk Regional Tumor Center.

The Foundation has been working with employees of the Center for a month. I asked one question “What should be done to make the Center meet the best European standards?” They gave me a list covering problems. Over 40 of them. All problems are very much urgent. All of them need to be tackled at the same time. A human life is behind each. UAH 50m is surely not enough to ensure the tumor center meets the best European standards. Another UAH 115m is needed – according to preliminary estimates.

Dear friends! I would like to tell that I’ve decided to allocate another UAH 115m to ensure that Donetsk Regional Antitumor Center meets the best European standards.

I would also like to say that Donetsk Region has five city cancer dispensaries located in Donetsk, Mariupol, Horlovka, Kramatorsk, and Yenakiyevo, as well as four departments in district and city hospitals. I promise that I will reach every department and create modern and good conditions for effective work.

Thank you for attention.