Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 28 January (BelTA) – The Belarusian healthcare sector offers all kinds of advanced cancer treatment, Director of the National Research Center for Oncology and Medical Radiology Oleg Sukonko told reporters on 28 January, BelTA has learned.

“Virtually no one is sent abroad for treatment. We provide the entire range of medical treatment here. In 2014 the oncology service earned about $7 million on the export of medical services and on paid medical services. People from all over the CIS and Eastern Europe come here for treatment. The center is popular,” Oleg Sukonko said.

The National Research Center for Oncology and Medical Radiology boasts cutting-edge equipment. There are no centers of this kind in the entire post-Soviet space. Besides, this year the center will commission a molecular genetics laboratory and a positron emission center. “When these facilities become operational, we will be able to rival the world’s best hospitals,” Oleg Sukonko said.

In his words, despite the great progress in combating cancer, the issue remains a matter of serious concern. A lot of research projects are conducted in Belarus and abroad to identify the reasons for cancer. It has already been established that the reasons are not clear and vary depending on a person. Therefore, individual treatment plans should be used. The starting point is identifying a patient’s genotype and its features. “We have started conducting such research projects together with foreign specialists. I believe that in some ten or fifteen years each cancer patient will be offered an individual treatment plan depending on their molecular genetics type,” Oleg Sukonko said.