Associations of cancer patients on Monday called on the Croatian government and lawmakers to urgently adopt a National Cancer Strategic Framework, warning that the draft document has been shelved for five years.

“Considering a high mortality rate, the struggle against cancer is a national strategic and security issue according to all necessary criteria, and in the context of the corona crisis, the problem will become a greater challenge,” reads the letter signed by activists Ljiljana Vukota and Ivica Belina.

“We cannot know how long the corona crisis will last, however, we must not let COVID-19 become our sole issue and the only matter to be dealt with by the healthcare system,” they say.

They recall that the adoption of the Europe Beating Cancer Plan is scheduled for early December, while the Croatian plan, a document that has been recently hammered out and verified by experts from more fields, “is still left on the shelves of the public administration” and added that so far five governments have failed to adopt it.

Annually, about 25,000 citizens in Croatia are diagnosed with malignant diseases, and 14,000 cancer patients die.

In terms of the mortality rate of oncology patients, Croatia ranks second in the EU and is unfortunately, the only EU member without a national strategy, the associations say.

The European Union says on its website that the cancer “is the second leading cause of mortality in EU countries after cardiovascular diseases, accounting for 26% of all deaths in 2013. More than 1,3 million people died of cancer in 2013 across all EU Member States.” Cancer is one of the main priorities of the European Commission on the health domain.