2010 November - EHC

Haemophilia Care in Poland
On 7th September 2010 an international conference “Haemophilia Care in Poland – Current State of
Affairs” took place in Warsaw, Poland. The conference was jointly organized by the Polish
Haemophilia Society and the EHC, and the Polish Minister of Health Ewa Kopacz was its official
patron. The speakers included Dr Paul Giangrande, haematology consultant from Oxford Radcliffe
Hospital, Brian O’Mahony, Chief Executive of the Irish Haemophilia Society, Dr Joanna Zdziarska, a
haematologist from the University Hospital in Cracow, Poland, and Bogdan Gajewski, President of
the Polish Haemophilia Society. Also representatives of people with haemophilia and some parents
of children with haemophilia had a chance to express their opinions. The debate was efficiently
moderated by journalist Malgorzata Wisniewska.
The speakers underlined that the introduction of prophylactic treatment for children in 2008 was a
very significant step forward in haemophilia care in Poland. However, there remained many
problems to be solved.
The most important were:
� lack of comprehensive haemophilia care, including problems with access to physiotherapy;
� lack of secondary prophylaxis for adults with serious joint changes;
� wrong costing of medical procedures by the National Health Fund, which was the reason
that hospitals often lost money when treating patients with haemophilia;
� no comprehensive treatment for patients with inhibitors;
� necessity of continuing the existing National Programme of Haemophilia Treatment, which
will expire in 2011;
� no access to recombinant factor concentrates.
When referring to the latter point, Dr Giangrande stressed the fact that prices of plasma-derived and
recombinant factor concentrates had become comparable, and in the most recent tender organized
in the United Kingdom plasma-derived factor concentrates (bought only for patients with von
Willebrand disease as otherwise British patients rely on recombinants) were more expensive than
recombinants.
EHC Newsletter| NOVEMBER 2010 10