The month of March is traditionally blue in France; “Mars bleu” is indeed the annual mobilization campaign against colorectal cancer, the second deadliest in France, with 17,500 deaths per year.
But this year, the month of March could well turn red, according to information from the Figaro, which reveals a major imbroglio between the screening centers and the General Directorate of Health. Thousands of test results would have been destroyed and more seriously, screening would be at a standstill for several weeks.
Colorectal cancer kills, yet in 9 out of 10 cases it can be cured. Provided it was detected early. Hence the emphasis placed each year on screening. For people at risk the key examination is colonoscopy, but for all others a test performed on a stool sample is sufficient.
The objective of Mars Bleu is to bring the 16 million French people aged 50 to 74 to undergo this screening every two years. But those who have finally decided to take the plunge will have to be patient.
However, the 2015 Mars Bleu campaign got off to a good start with the announcement by the Ministry of Health of the marketing of a new, simpler and more reliable test. More sensitive too, it could even make it possible to detect twice as many cancers.
But this immunological test will not be available until May, and Le Figaro tells us that the old one, Hemoccult II, has become obsolete… because of an administrative blunder!
The General Directorate of Health had however warned the regional health agencies (ARS): “To ensure the transition period between the two types of test as well as possible, it is necessary to organize the cessation of the distribution of guaiac tests and to inform the stakeholders in the program that the reading of these will be possible until January 31, 2015. ” Information sent, according to Le Figaro, December 30 at the ARS… Just one month before the planned obsolescence date!
Then at the end of January, the DGS this time explicitly requested that the tests sent after the 31st of the month be destroyed. Le Figaro gave an estimate according to which some 11,000 tests would have been put in the trash. An “unprecedented waste in public health” estimates the daily.
One can imagine the disarray of the actors of Mars Bleu, who for another 20 days will have to ensure all the planned events, while specifying to the people met that screening for colorectal cancer is no longer possible in France for the next few weeks… And yet there are still tens of thousands of Hemoccult II tests available that could no doubt still be useful.
