One year after the creation of the National Oncology Coordination of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and with the implementation of 35 State Reference Centers for the Care of Boys and Girls with Cancer (ONCOCREAN) at the national level, has achieved that the life expectancy of children with cancer integrated into these services is 60 percent, when previously it was 46 percent.
Dr. Enrique López Aguilar, coordinator of Oncology Care, assured that this strategy will allow around 70 percent to be reached in two or three years thanks to the continuous service improvementtimely and quality care through the State Reference Centers, where the same possibilities of healing are granted with approved and innovative treatments.
Patients being treated
He stressed that Social Security is at the forefront in the procedure of almost three thousand minors with oncological diseases, through specialty medicine in less complex dysplasias, complications, timely diagnosis and immediate referral to High Specialty Medical Units (UMAE) in relevant cases.
López Aguilar explained that in the IMSS, in addition to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, services were strengthened to deal with childhood cancer. For this, a registry of pediatric oncology patients was created through a digital platform, where timely and effective follow-up of treatments is provided.
He stressed that within this strategy, meetings are held between authorities of the Institute with the mothers and fathers of minors with cancer, in order to seek improvements, answer questions about the services and provide solutions. In addition, every Friday a telemedicine meeting is held where the 35 experts from the Reference Centers participate to review highly complex cases.
Where are the ONCOCREAN to care for children with cancer?
In this sense, the specialist in pediatric oncology of the Social Security expressed that the ONCOCREAN are distributed in all the states of the country, although due to their territorial extension two work in Chihuahua (Chihuahua capital and Ciudad Juárez), two in Sonora (Hermosillo and Ciudad Obregón) and a couple more in Veracruz (Puerto de Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos).
Dr. Enrique López stated that the start-up of these centers did not require money, but a redistribution of personnel and spaces that in some cases were underutilized. “The Reference Centers concentrate services of pediatricians, hematologists, oncologists, intensivists and nursing staff, among other specialists.”
In addition, he commented that the specialists who are part of the ONCOCREAN are constantly trained in the management of vascular access, in order to avoid infections that in a minor in a vulnerable situation can have fatal consequences.
The Oncology Care coordinator explained that the Family Medicine Units (FMU) in the event of a suspicion of cancer in a minor, refer him immediately to his nearest State Reference Center for the Care of Boys and Girls with Cancer, where You will receive a diagnosis in a maximum of seven days, and treatment in the following three days.
He indicated that among children with cancer the leukemias occupy 70 percent of the attentions in the ONCOCREAN, followed by tumors of the central nervous system, bone, liver and bile ducts, among others.
“The most complex neoplasms are sent to specialized centers: High Specialty Medical Units in Torreón, Coahuila; Pediatric Hospital of Bajío, Guanajuato; Pediatric Hospital in Jalisco; XXI Century Pediatric Hospital, Mexico City; Veracruz Specialty Hospital, Monterrey Specialty Hospital, Nuevo León, and La Raza General Hospital, Mexico City.
However, Dr. Enrique López established that severe cases are transferred to the National Medical Centers (CMN) La Raza, General Hospital; XXI Century, Pediatric Hospital; de Occidente, Pediatric Hospital, and to Medical Unit No. 25, Specialty Hospital, in Nuevo León. He recalled that according to the therapies used, restoring health to a minor takes from one to three years.