You can get cancer. And then having to live with it in Belgium too…

All cancer patients – cured or still in treatment – will agree: the day you are diagnosed is the darkest day of your life. Fear and uncertainty stifle dreams and plans for the future. Everything is “suspended” for a fight to the death. The saddest thing is that being a resident of a leading and developed country like Belgium does not necessarily make the fight easier. On the contrary. The appearance of fragmented files and folders, ad hoc processes and protocols that differ approximately from a laboratory and a hospital make the picture even darker and murkier.

Unfair fight

Gabry Kuijten is the initiator and coordinator of My Cancer Navigator: an information service financed by the Anticancer Fund which accompanies patients with personalized information in the field of possible treatments for cancer. Every day, she sees how difficult it is for people to ask for their medical history.

First, it often comes down to whether patients are allowed to request their own data. And second, if they can then share that information. There should be better information in this area. But then the question still arises whether they can get all the information and how. The rules and policy regarding digital storage and availability to view search results online differ by region and sometimes even by municipality.

Gabry Kuijten

This is precisely why #1patient1record4belgium was created. At the moment, the patient doesn’t know where he or she stands, and despite all the best intentions, the attending physician often doesn’t know either. This creates a risk that he/she treats on the basis of incomplete data and makes the “unfair fight” against cancer even more unfair.

Petition

It will come as no surprise that Gabry is also entirely behind the introduction of a centralized patient record.

My Cancer Navigator works best when we have a complete picture. I believe that everyone should have access to their complete medical information and should be able to share it with whoever they want. I therefore wholeheartedly welcome the initiative of #1patient1record4belgium and sign the petition!

Gabry Kuijten