4,900 people signed the proposal, which petition author Isabelle Faber cited as evidence that there is need for clarification around access to medical scans.
Faber stated that a mammography she did in 2014 helped discover an anomaly: “All of a sudden, every single day counts although it might take up to three weeks between [medical] examinations. I can tell you, in that case one no longer lives, one only survives.”
The petition author went on to explain that waiting times outside of the mammography programme become increasingly long, recently amounting to 18 months.
Similar delays are also to be expected for other medical scans, such as colonoscopies and MRIs, said Faber: “I received concrete testimony from patients and doctors about emergencies and waiting periods of several months and longer.”
This necessarily impacts treatment options and the chances of being cured. Dr Jean-Baptist Olivier, who accompanied the petition author, explained: “In the case of breast cancer, there is a direct relationship between the size of the breast tumour, lymph node involvement, and the age of the tumour.”
Minister of Health Paulette Lenert assured that urgent patients are still being prioritised and lamented that miscommunication is part of the cited issues: “We identified a number of things that can be improved, such as the description of urgent cases so that the chance of misinterpretation is reduced.”
The politician from the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) noted that increased waiting periods are also still related to the pandemic. Furthermore, the Grand Duchy’s population increased by 25% in the last ten years.
The number of medical scanners in Luxembourg has been increased from seven to 13 since 2018, according to Minister Lenert. A centralised monitoring system is now expected to help maintain an overview of waiting periods in each hospital. Minister Lenert further said that a similar mechanism will be implemented for appointments.
Discussions are also being held on expanding operating hours of scanners to Saturdays, as they are currently only being used between 7am and 8pm on weekdays.
