The teacher answered his questions Pavlou Tsima in the SKAI radio 100.3.
P.T .: On the occasion of the Economist conference entitled “Greece’s agenda to combat cancer in a post COVID-19 world”which took place on March 17 under the auspices of EOPE (Hellenic Association of Oncologists) and other Medical Societies, we had the honor to host on our show Constantine SyrigosProfessor of Pathology and Oncology of the Medical School of Athens EKPA and Director of the 3rd Pathological Clinic of the Hospital “I Sotiria” and to discuss. Are you worried about the pandemic evolving as the numbers rise across Europe?
Κ.Σ. I’m not worried, because the cases are increasing but they are mild. Most vaccinated people do not even need hospitalization. As people get sick, the community’s immunity increases. I am more worried about the next day, as you rightly mentioned in your preface. I am worried because in Greece as well as in Europe, the national health systems have become monothematic. At “I Sotiria” Hospital we tried twice to “open” the hospital to all diseases and to stop being Covid and 2 times we suspended it. I think we are unduly late. There is a phobia that is not justified and we have to look the next day. We lose lives. We lose more (lives) from non-Covid diseases than from Covid.
Listen to an excerpt of the interview on SKAI FM 100.3:
PT: Do you also have the feeling that the others, the non Covid diseases, the other pathogens, seem to be underestimated, even by those who have them, that is, hospitalizations go back, treatments and examinations go back…
KS: I would say mainly from those who suffer from a disease, as they are afraid of having access to health services. But the health services are also “comfortable” with this situation. We must quickly return to normalcy, because other diseases do not stop. Heart disease, stroke, cancer have not stopped at all, on the contrary, they exist, they are under-treated, they are under-diagnosed and then we will have a tsunami of morbidity that we will not be ready to face.
PT: This discussion (Economist conference entitled “Greece’s Agenda for Fighting Cancer in the Post-Covid World”) on cancer in the post-Covid era, has also been affected by pandemic management.
KS: It was a very useful discussion, which was initiated by the Economist and had references to both Greece and Europe, what we should do. We conclude that better data files are needed, not just clinical trial data. The European Union has already set up such a system and we must follow it, so that we are ready, to know where we need to spend resources to take place and benefit patients.
PT: It is what in English is called Real world Evidence, that is, the real data, not just the clinical studies.
Physician: Clinical studies are very “laboratory test tube”, not real life. They do not include the real sick but standard sick “ideals”. Usually people are not like that, since (people) have many problems at the same time, not just one, and we have to change the way we think, we have to use them and take advantage of them. Of course, this also has many ethical, legal and practical problems. We have to deal with them in advance so that we do not have unpleasant surprises. Society needs to open this debate, because we are talking about people’s personal data.
PT: Is there such a record today in Greece?
Κ.Σ.: There are individual efforts very important. The Greek pathological-anatomical company has made such a file. We, at the University Pathology Clinic in N. Sotiria, made a record of real data on lung cancer, with great success, but we need a national record and we do not have one. We are one of the few countries in Europe that do not have a National Cancer Archive.
P.T .: The key is to very quickly stop the national health system from being just Covid and get ready to deal with what comes next and I think it will come in the form of an outbreak of other diseases that have been underestimated during this 2 years of the pandemic.
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