SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Tenerife Breast Cancer Association (Ámate) has conveyed to the Deputy of the Common, Rafael Yanes, its concern about the delay of radiotherapy treatments due to the lack of linear accelerators and health professionals at the Hospital de La Candelaria.
According to Ámate, “the late management of replacing two linear accelerators has reduced the radiotherapy service by more than 50% and the situation is causing months of delays in the specialty’s waiting lists because the treatments cannot be carried out continuously , which can mean the worsening of the disease”.
The Association’s psycho-oncologist, Carmen Martín, commented that the waiting time between the end of chemotherapy and the start of radiotherapy is a month or a month and a half, and some patients tell them that they have waited up to four months.
In addition, he added that this delay “is having a series of side effects in patients at a psychological level, since the anxiety and fear of waiting is highlighted because they do not know what is going to happen.”
Rafael Yanes, for his part, pointed out that the number of cases due to breast cancer in the Canary Islands in the last decade increased by 20%, so “resources must be increased.” “The complaint is very important, since time is of the essence in these treatments, in which a small delay can have irreparable consequences,” he warned.
In addition, the Common Deputy promised to contact the person in charge of the Hospital de La Candelaria to ask about the replacement of the two linear accelerators and to what extent it is affecting people with breast cancer.
