Health Ministry and PP-governed Regions Agree to Share Cancer Screening Data

Health Minister Mónica García announced on Wednesday that the autonomous communities governed by the Popular Party have agreed to commit to providing data related to breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening programmes. According to the minister, during the press conference following the Interterritorial Council, there was 'a lot of willingness' from these regional governments, which she found satisfying: 'I am pleased they have reconsidered and reflected. I celebrate their decision to collaborate among all institutions to restore public confidence, which was—and remains—concerned about the issue and the negligence that occurred in Andalusia.'

García pointed out that this requirement is part of the legal obligation of the autonomous communities to provide data related to early detection programmes, as the Ministry had previously warned. According to official Ministry sources, regions governed by other parties have already 'provided the data or will do so shortly.'

The minister has formally invited regional councillors to send the data to the Public Health Commission of the CISNS, which will be held this Thursday. She emphasised that providing this data will help restore public confidence in screening programmes and address any potential failures recently identified in some regions, particularly in Andalusia.

Additionally, García reminded that the Ministry had sent a formal request to the PP-governed communities to submit the agreed indicators for breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening programmes, with a one-month deadline before resorting to legal action.

The minister's announcement marks a shift in the stance of the Popular Party's regions, which until recently refused to submit the data, citing the lack of a common platform or technical inability to do so.

Now, there is an opportunity to move towards greater transparency and coordination in cancer prevention programmes, although details about specific deadlines for submission and how the data will be used have yet to be clarified.

In this context, Ministry sources have indicated that if the data is not received within the expected timeframe, legal mechanisms provided by the General Health Law, the SNS Cohesion and Quality Law, and the General Public Health Law will be activated, obliging communities to cooperate in public health surveillance and coordination.

The Ministry's initiative aims to ensure that screening programmes meet evaluation standards and allow for the detection of inequalities between communities, as well as to strengthen cancer prevention uniformly across the State.