Health Department to add proton therapy against childhood cancer in Ibiza and the rest of the Balearics

For this reason and with a biennial budget of 925,524€, yesterday the Ministry of Health brought  to the Consell de Govern for approval the agreement that will allow proton radiotherapy treatment to be administered to paediatric oncology patients on the islands from now on.

This is an anticancer therapy whose main benefit over conventional radiotherapy is to minimise the harmful effects on healthy tissues, achieving an increase in survival by up to 80% if accompanied by other surgical and pharmacological measures.

This new treatment is thus included in the portfolio of services offered by the islands’ public hospitals as an additional service for patients who require it, with medical referrals being made to the two centres that so far offer proton therapy in Spain: the Clínica Quirón in Madrid and the Clínica Universitaria de Navarra.

Until now, referrals to submit patients to undergo this therapy required a medical report and a specific administrative procedure for each case. And this entailed an individual cost of some 42,000€ for each treatment.

From 2013, when the Balearic Islands sent its first patient, until 2019, children with cancer were forced to travel to Switzerland or Germany to undergo proton therapy.

A total of six patients were able to benefit from the new treatment. Four of them went to Switzerland and two to Germany.

For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.