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Seimas member Antanas Matulas describes such changes in the face of a pandemic as immoral and inadmissible.
Just a month ago, in the face of confusion about the planned transfer of control of the institution only to SAM, on July 23. A revised draft government resolution was registered which, as IMI representatives emphasize, is not essentially different from the first document.
In both the first and the current version of the draft resolution, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (MESM) is removed from future IMI stakeholders.
Science will lose funds
According to Giedrė Smailytė, president of the Scientific Council of IMI, if such a government resolution were adopted, the first big problem would be that science loses funds.
“SAM does not have the funds or the mechanisms with which science is financed. What will really happen is basically the destruction of one of the 11 research institutes. Because if money is not allocated to scientific activities, the activities are no longer carried out. ”, He warned during a press conference.
The researcher recalled that the IMI is a specific institution that is dedicated to both educational and therapeutic activities.
“We are keeping pace with Europe and the European Agenda for Action against Cancer calls for the establishment of cancer centers of excellence in all countries of the European Union by 2030.” It is as if we are taking the first step towards this center of excellence. And one of the requirements for its establishment is that, in addition to medical activities, scientific research must be carried out.
Therefore, taking into account the European Plan against Cancer, SAM’s decision to convert IMI into a regular hospital would not seem rational. Therefore, in order for the institute to continue with both educational and therapeutic activities, we urge you to take these observations into account, ”said G. Smailytė.
Fear of layoffs
Urologist Dr. Aušvydas Patašius, a member of the IMI Workers’ Union Council, shared his fears and anxieties about the future of patients, noting that the constant abandonment and detachment from the institution does not create a sense of security for employees.
“Our body is the flagship of oncology, currently through this struggle In silence, we carry the whole situation in Lithuania on our shoulders. We all see how the synergy between science and the clinic helps each patient to add up each day, hour, week or even month. In particular, I want to draw attention to the general microclimate that exists in the country among health professionals.
During the dialogue with potential stakeholders, it was agreed that conditions would not change and the bills show that the scenario is heading in a completely different direction: the reorganization of the institution. And this, as we know, leads to layoffs, the elimination of duplication of jobs at a time when we have survived. struggle endless crisis and shortage of workers, ”said the doctor.
In his opinion, in the absence of synergy between researchers and treatment, it seems that a situation will soon be reached in which Lithuania is affected by an oncological crisis.
Patients lack dialogue
The situation regarding the possible reorganization of the institution is also worrying in the community of cancer patients themselves.
Neringa Čiakienė, director of the Association of Cancer Patients (POLA), recalled that, on average, more than 50 people are diagnosed with oncological disease in Lithuania every day, and more than 100,000 people live with this disease in Lithuania. people.
“Many of these people visit the National Cancer Institute in one way or another, whether at the initial stage of diagnosis, during research, at a later stage of follow-up, or when accompanying their family member. What is happening now worries the entire patient community, as IMI is both a key center of excellence and support for the cancer patient, where they know they will get the best service, ”said the patient representative.
According to her, it is very worrying that the discussion is organized hastily and partly in secret, the documents are not sent for coordination to patient organizations or other social partners.
However, we continue to believe in the power of dialogue and we invite both the Government and the Ministry of Health to a discussion and we continue to await a response to the letter sent at the end of June, which was signed by almost 30 cancer patient organizations. .
We listen to the arguments of the Ministry, but we also want answers to our questions. If the SAM says that the subordination change will help to better allocate EU funds, that’s great, but this double subordination was already in place a year ago.
The pandemic has already exhausted the entire system, doctors are experiencing symptoms of fatigue, exhaustion. This is the system that was not shut down during the pandemic period, but statistics show that thousands of cases are undiagnosed. And now reorganizations are being taken instead of solving systemic problems, ”said N. Čiakienė.
Matulas: Such behavior is immoral, perhaps even criminal
For his part, the president of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, Antanas Matulas, was categorical about the possible connection of IMI with the Santara clinics.
He said it would be immoral to see what was happening with the pandemic and as the number of illnesses increased, it would be immoral to think of some kind of shakeup.
“It is really quite strange now to see such efforts to start again from the closest and most easily accessible, but very important institutions, without which oncology help in Lithuania, at least I cannot imagine.
All the authorities tried in one way or another to reorganize this institution: to connect, to merge. But as experience shows, even in Kaunas, we see that after connecting the Kaunas Oncology Hospital with the Kaunas clinics, there was basically only chemotherapy and supportive care. Was there a benefit when the Children’s Hospital connected with the Santara clinics? There were both positive and negative things. But today it is completely wrong to think that IMI needs to be connected to the Santara clinics, ”said a member of Seimas.
According to him, it should be clear to everyone that this would disrupt the provision of oncology services.
“In recent years, we have not even received any complaints, which means that the queues have been reduced. It means you drive. And that collaboration can be legitimized through a grouping agreement with the Santara clinics and other hospitals.
But talk about the fact that the institution must reorganize itself by merging with the clinics, without looking for other forms of cooperation, especially covid At a time when morbidity is on the rise again, the president and the public are concerned about it, it is unacceptable, even immoral and perhaps even criminal, ”said A. Matulas.
At the same time, he announced that he would invite a meeting of the Health Committee next week, where this issue of concern to the IMI community would also be discussed. Government representatives also pledged to provide further comments during the meeting.
SAM: it would allow a more rational use of resources
The portal tv3.lt recalls that the changes in SAM were argued by the fact that 95 percent. the institute’s income now consists of funds received from the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund for the provision of health care services.
“Which state institution can implement the rights and obligations of a shareholder of personal health care institutions together with a state university is established in Article 3 of Article 27 of the Law on Health Care Institutions of the Republic of Lithuania (with the university state ONLY by the Ministry of Health) ”, commented SAM.
The Ministry pointed out that at this stage of the restructuring, no aspect of the organization of science and health services provided by IMI is being modified.
“The Ministry of Health would endeavor to incorporate the personal health care services provided by the National Cancer Institute into the network of health institutions. In this way, oncology services could be provided in an integrated manner with other institutions in the network (multiple profiles), their development and development, like other institutions in the network, would receive EU structural funds and other international structural funds, thus further increasing the quality and availability of oncology services in Lithuania, explains SAM.
As noted, incorporating IMI services into the network system would not harm science either, as part of the science would go to the Vilnius University structure.
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