New agency of Santé Quebec: organizations demand the appointment of a vice-president dedicated exclusively to the fight against cancer

Organizations dedicated to the fight against cancer are calling on Health Minister Christian Dube.

They want the new agency to appoint a vice president dedicated to cancer issues.

This is one of eight recommendations made in the plan. Cancer doesn’t wait.

These organizations justify their requests by arguing that cancer is the disease with the highest prevalence in Canada and Quebec.

“Cancer is a public health scourge. It is critical that the new agency focuses exclusively on cancer, which remains the disease with the highest mortality rate in Canada,” said Manon Pepin, president and CEO of the Society for Cancer Research.

The organizations note that there were 68,000 new cancer diagnoses in 2023, or 185 new cases per day.

They are also asking for mortality reduction targets and more money for research. In terms of prevention, they would like to see more self-diagnosis, among other things.

“I had cancer. […] If we feel that the government is taking responsibility for a disease like prostate cancer in terms of follow-up, it risks being different,” said Laurent Proulx, President and CEO of PROCURE.

The Cabinet of the Ministry of Health welcomed these possible solutions and agreed to meet with organizations to look at how to improve the cancer situation in Quebec.