Minister Damjanović takes part in an international medical event linking science and oncology

A three-day international medical event linking science and oncology clinics of the Mediterranean was organised in Budva by the Association of Radiotherapy and Oncology of the Mediterranean arEa (AROME).

In the introductory session, the participants were welcomed on behalf of AROME by Prof. Vladimir Todorović, Director of the Oncology Clinic of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro and Joseph Gligorov, Professor of Medical Oncology at Sorbonne University, who reflected on the past work, current events and future activities of the Association. After that, those present were also addressed by State Secretary in the Ministry of Health Milovan Vujović and Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović.

State Secretary Vujović addressed the topic of combating cancer in Montenegro. According to him, more than 3,000 people in our country fall ill with cancer each year and about 1,500 of them pass away. In recent years, the Government of Montenegro has allocated significant resources for the development of oncology, from providing adequate equipment to educating medical personnel. “This conference is expected to bring conclusions which will be in the interest of the best possible treatment of patients with malignant diseases and which will be taken into account when determining further health policy directions in our country”, Vujović concluded.

Minister Damjanović familiarised the conference participants with the SEEIIST project, which represents the future regional Institute based on the hadron therapy cancer treatment – the state-of-the-art and most successful cancer treatment method. According to her, this radiation method treats malignant tissue without damaging the healthy one, while the patient survival rate five years after treatment is over 90%, as opposed to the conventional radiotherapy method where it amounts to 10-20%. Stressing that our region was characterised by high cancer patients’ mortality rates, up to three times higher than in the Western Europe, Damjanović added that the SEEIIST Institute would also be a cancer research centre where significant progress could be made for the region in science and in the field of biomedicine. Given that this is first and foremost a health project, and bearing in mind that it has already succeeded as a science project because it has obtained the support of the most prestigious scientific institutions such as CERN and GSI, Damjanović called upon the community of oncologists present to support the SEEIIST project as well.

During the international medical conference, which will be attended by nearly 70 experts in the field of oncology and radiotherapy from the Mediterranean area, special attention will be paid to innovations in cancer diagnosis and treatment. On the last day of the conference, the representatives of the European School of Oncology (ESO) will give special educational lectures on the challenges encountered by the developing countries in these fields.