Quebec wants to focus on screening and access to cancer treatments

The Quebec government wants to increase access to cancer screening and treatment in its new plan, unveiled on Sept. 13, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh, The Canadian Press)

Facilitating access to cancer screening and providing equitable access to treatments are two of the major objectives at the heart of the Quebec government's new cancer action plan, which was unveiled Friday.

The 2024-2026 Action Plan of the Quebec Cancer Program is structured around eight major orientations, including prevention, early detection of cancers and improving treatment capacity.

According to Health Minister Christian Dubé, the new action plan aims to support people with cancer and take action upstream, "by focusing in particular on screening, in order to give them every chance against the disease."

With this action plan, Quebec wants to ensure that 75 per cent of patients requiring cancer surgery are treated within 28 days or less by March 31, 2026.

As of March 31, 2023, this rate was 53.6 per cent.

The government also wants to achieve a coverage rate of 42 per cent for colorectal cancer screening by March 31, 2026, while ensuring that the service is offered in all regions of Quebec, as well as ensuring that all regions of Quebec offer cervical cancer screening with the HPV test rather than the Pap test by Dec. 31, 2025.

The plan includes 60 actions aimed, among other things, at increasing prevention and access to treatment. Some actions also concern data collection and access, in order to "optimize the production and dissemination of relevant information in cancerology."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 13, 2024.