Skopje, 6 August 2026 (MIA) — The problem with the recent shortage of drugs for people undergoing cancer treatment has been temporarily solved, with some medications having arrived or about to arrive at the Oncology Clinic, but the state needs a better national cancer treatment strategy, focused on prevention, Hema-Onko patient association representative Ana Marjanovikj said Thursday at a gathering in front of the Ministry of Health.

She said the association would notify their members via social media about the availability of specific cancer drugs "so they don't have to come here and wait in vain for their therapy in these high temperatures."

She said there had been a shortage of the breast cancer drugs ribociclib, zoladex and fulvestrant as well as some cytostatics for the treatment of colon cancer. She also said cancer patients were not demanding any special privileges but only to get their medications on time. 

"We asked for a bigger budget and we got a bigger budget," Marjanovikj said. "The tender bid went through in May. We have had procurement disruptions at the Oncology clinic all summer. At this point, we don't even know if the Ministry of Health is the right place to gather in front of, because this is not a protest, not yet at least."

She said the gathering was "a reminder that we will not be quiet if there is a shortage of drugs for oncology patients." 

According to Marjanovikj, the recurring problem of cancer drug shortages in the past five years, regardless of who is health minister and who is in the government, has left people receiving cancer treatment in a perpetual state of uncertainty.

"Macedonia 25 years ago was an oncology leader in these parts of the world," she said. "Where are we now? Prevention has stopped, and not only recently. We haven't had any for decades."

She also said related laws and screening programs were lacking. "Unless we start working on good prevention and excellent screening programs for early disease detection, we will need to keep increasing the Oncology clinic budget, given that both drug prices and patient numbers keep rising." 

"Macedonia is not a state that will ever be able to finance all the cancer treatments for oncology patients," Marjanovikj said, adding that Health Minister Sasho Klekovski was familiar with the problems facing people receiving cancer treatment and had had good discussions with Hema-Onko representatives.

"The European Union has been developing the Beating Cancer plan for years, and Macedonia is lagging behind," she said. "We cannot fight cancer with ad hoc, short-term solutions. We need to have a strategy for each segment of the battle against cancer, long term."

"Without any continuity and long-term strategies, we will always be back to square one: more and more patients due to inadequate prevention, shortage of drugs due to their high prices, and bad laws, regarding procurement, which need changing." mr/