The Macedonian Minister of Health, Sašo Klevovski, has announced plans for the increased decentralization of oncology services across the country. The initiative aims to facilitate the dispensing of cancer treatments at local pharmacies, rather than mandating that patients visit specialized hospital clinics. Klevovski highlighted that this shift is already underway, noting that two oncology clinics in Skopje have recently undergone refranchising, moving dispensing responsibilities from the hospital pharmacy to standard community pharmacies.
This measure is intended to improve patient access, preventing individuals from needing to travel to Skopje solely to receive necessary treatment. Furthermore, the Ministry is actively investigating the feasibility of providing oncology treatments in oral tablet form directly through pharmacies. The Ministry has been studying this potential for some time and is currently assessing the existing capacities of various oncology centers nationwide.
These centers include the Teto Vreme Hospital, the 8th September Hospital, and the Bitola Hospital. The overarching goal of this policy adjustment is to streamline the patient care process. By expanding the points of care, the system seeks to make specialized oncology medications more readily available in community settings, positioning the local pharmacy as a primary point of access for essential cancer care, instead of relying exclusively on centralized hospital facilities.
Topics: #pharmacy #instead #oncology
