The Committee on Health and the Family held its thirty-third sitting on 22 July 2010. The sitting was chaired by the Committee Chairman, Dr Paja Momcilov.

The Committee members considered the health care problems of persons suffering from malignant diseases with the participation of representatives of the Ministry of Health, Provincial Secretariat for Health Care, Republic Institute for Health Insurance, Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut”, Serbian Medical Association, as well as representatives of health care institutions providing health care to these persons and representatives of non-governmental anti-cancer organisations.

Under articles 60 and 79 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, having considered the health care problems of persons suffering from malignant diseases, the Committee on Health and the Family adopted the following:

CONCLUSIONS

1. The constant rise in the number of persons suffering from cancer, as well as the constant rise in mortality rates from malignant diseases, oblige the authorities and the society as a whole to be more active in exploring and resolving the problems in this area.

2. The Serbian Health Council and the Ministry of Health, having consulted the specialist sections of the Serbian Medical Society, should draft a revision of the Serbian National Anti-Cancer Programme so as to come up with more optimal measures to suppress and treat malignant diseases.

3. From the accounts of the representatives of all the oncological institutions present at the sitting it is clear that Serbia lacks the therapeutic and staff capacities to be considered a medium-developed country. The lack of modern radiotherapy devices and staff call for additional efforts from the whole society in order to overcome these problems.

4. Regarding the suspected judicial malfeasance in the treatment in oncological institutions, corruption and endangerment of human and civil rights of Serbian citizens, we request that the competent authorities headed by the prosecutor’s office examine all the allegations, and if they be confirmed, to process them.