Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: COVID-19 should not disrupt essential health services

An archive photo

MINSK, 5 February (BelTA) – In addition to efficient treatment of COVID-19, Belarus should ensure the continuity of essential health services, including a cancer service, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to representatives of the academic community after the ceremony to award doctoral and professor certificates on 5 February, BelTA has learned.

At the meeting, Doctor of Medicine, Professor of the Department of Infectious Diseases of Belarusian State Medical University Dmitry Danilov spoke about Belarus’ experience of treating hepatitis C, which was also acknowledged at the international level. According to him, the World Health Organization named Belarus one of the countries that made the biggest progress in improving access to viral hepatitis C treatment.

By the way, the Doctor of Medicine degree was awarded to Dmitry Danilov precisely for establishing genetic factors determining the treatment efficacy in chronic viral hepatitis B and C, and for proving the high efficacy of direct antiviral drugs produced in Belarus to treat viral hepatitis C. Dmitry Danilov published over 110 research papers.

Having listened to Dmitry Danilov’s report on treating viral hepatitis Aleksandr Lukashenko noted: “This is very important for us now. We got too overwhelmed with COVID and forgot that people with other diseases also need treatment. We talked about this at the onset of the first wave – we said that we should not neglect other diseases. And you probably noticed: the European Union is now talking about cancer. Things have got really bad. Cancer patients cannot wait. The death toll from cancer is already on the rise.”

The president emphasized that Belarus took this problem seriously even during the first wave, as well as during the second wave: “We tried not to overload cancer centers with treatment of other diseases.”

The head of state noted that Europe is now investing huge money in cancer services. “Therefore, what you have said is consonant with this problem of our difficult time,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted commenting on Dmitry Danilov’s speech.

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