Proton therapy wonder cure for cancer patients

But thousands will be left to die

The Dutch medical world has made a further step in fighting cancer; proton therapy. It is not completely  new, but for the Netherlands, this is a revolutionary new step in curing some of the rarest forms of cancer. Now it is possible to kill the dangerous cancer cells without affecting most of thee surrounding healthy cells of the hum an body. The proton therapy will be  provided in four locations in the Netherlands.

Proton therapy is a new type of radio therapy, which is used in the treatment of specific types of cancer. As it goes in this country, fond of rules, paper works, registrations and regulations, it was first necessary to set up a ‘Regeling protonentherapy’ (Regulation proton therapy), before the next steps to effectively start the improved fight against cancer. Under the new regulation, a maximum of four institutions will be allowed to provide this therapy  and these will be located in the North of the country, the south and the other two in the West; in the Randstad, to be more precise. On an annual basis, these institutions will altogether be able to treat a maximum of 2,200 patients. The license will only be provided to University Medical  Centers (UMCs), or institutions that cooperate with a UMC. Applications for licenses could be made until 30 August and the Minister of Public Health, Wellbeing and Sport will lateron announce the organisations that can provide the proton therapy.

In proton therapy the protons are used from hydrogen cores. According to the College voor Zorgverzekeringen (CVZ: Institution for health insurances) proton therapy can best be used for intra ocular tumors, chordomes / condrosarcomes and pedriatic tumors. In 2010, it was estimated that 250 patients per year would benefit from this kind of therapy. However, the good news does not stop there. One year later, the CVZ found out that the number of effective treatments with proton  therapy can be expanded with the diseases of lung cancer, mammacarcinome, prostate cancer and head and neck tumors. The number of patients that would benefit from this type of treatment will therefore rise to about 3,450 per year. Most likely, this number will even go up, since the number of cancer cases also increases every year.

However cheerful the news about the proton therapy may be, it is also a bitter pill for relatives who have lost a beloved mother, father or child due to cancer over the past few years. Already in 2010 it was known that proton therapy is effective and anno 2013 it is still not being used. Even worse, Dutch cancer patients even have to wait until 2016 before the first treatments can begin. New buildings and locations need to be set up to make the proton facility possible. And only in 2019 the first proto facility will be in full capacity – curing only 600 patients. Leaving thousands of others desperately waiting in line until it is their turn – until it is too late.

But the minister thinks there is a good reason to do so, it can be read from the official government documents. ‘Even though the CVZ indicates that about 3,450 patients can be treated with proton therapy on an annual basis, I want to limit the number of proton therapy providers. I want to build up the experience with this new medical treatment in a controlled manner. In this way, we can get more information on the added value and cost effectivess of proton therapy. It would be more effective than if we would spread out the proton therapy on a wider basis.’ So there you have it, to the Ministry of VWS it is not the health and wellbeing of the individual civilians that is of the utmost importance, but cold cash.

And after 2019 the situation will not improve for thousands of cancer patients. Ultimately, only four UMC locations will provide the proton therapy and altogether they can only help 2,200 patients: leaving more than 1,000 others to die. And that will be a frustrating thought for bot cancer patients as well as their relatives; my father, mother or child had to die because the government did not want to invest enough to help all patients. Would the Minister herself want to be part of the 2,200 patients of the 1,000 that will not be helped?, one wonders.

(Gepubliceerd in The Holland Times, September edition)