GENEVA

The UN refugee agency said Monday that many refugee cancer patients are going untreated due to a lack of funds.

The agency’s medical expert Dr. Paul Spiegel said, in a study published in the Lancet Oncology, also that the number of refugees with cancer is overwhelming the health systems in Jordan and Syria.

“We can treat everyone with measles, but we can’t treat everyone with cancer,” said Spiegel, adding that “We have to turn away cancer patients with poor prognoses because caring for them is too expensive."

According to the agency’s Exceptional Care Committee, which decides whether to fund expensive treatments, the most common form of cancer amongst refugees is breast cancer and the cost of cancer treatment can be as high as $21,000 in some cases.

www.aa.com.tr/en