On Wednesday, 24 April 2024, Ombudswoman Tena Šimonović Einwalter and Deputy Ombudswoman Tatjana Vlašić met with Ivana Kalogjera, President of the Association Nismo Same, and Vice-President Goranka Perc to discuss the challenges cancer patients face in exercising their right to health. They also talked about future cooperation to advance the protection of cancer patients’ rights in Croatia, including efforts to address discrimination in employment that these individuals may experience due to their health condition.
Croatia’s cancer incidence rate is close to the EU average. However, according to the most recent data from 2022, Croatia unfortunately has the third highest cancer mortality rate in the EU—the highest for men and the eighth highest for women—highlighting serious concerns regarding healthcare for oncology patients.
This issue stems primarily from a shortage of healthcare workers, radiotherapy centres, and treatment capacities, all of which make timely access to care—critical for successful outcomes—more difficult. Coordination in care delivery also remains insufficient, despite the adoption of the National Cancer Strategic Framework (NCSF) through 2030, which was intended to address these deficiencies.
In her 2023 Annual Report, the Ombudswoman issued recommendations to the Ministry of Health aimed at improving cancer care. These included ensuring a unified approach to handling diagnostic results, whereby findings should be delivered to general practitioners and specialists who requested them, and, where possible, made directly available to patients through the Health Portal (e-Citizens). Furthermore, an analysis should be conducted of multidisciplinary breast cancer teams’ practices across the country, and clear standards should be established to ensure all patients receive equally adequate healthcare.
Nismo Same supports individuals diagnosed with malignant diseases by sharing experiences, providing necessary information, answering patients’ numerous questions, and drawing attention to systemic inconsistencies and challenges within the healthcare system, with the goal of resolving them and enabling more effective treatment for all patients.
Further information on the protection of oncology patients’ rights is available in the Ombudswoman’s 2023 Annual Report.