COVID-19 prevented many Canadians from being diagnosed with cancer early, leading to worse outcomes and more invasive procedures than required if their care wasn't delayed. "COVID has definitely had a significant impact on health care in this country," said Dr. Craig Earle, vice-president of cancer control, with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Dr. Antoine Eskander, a surgical oncologist who also researches health services, said it's critical people don't delay biopsies, screening and other cancer care during this time. He said median times for urgent cancer surgeries didn't increase over the pandemic, but now it's time to focus on the backlog of patients who saw a delay for non-essential surgeries. "We have a huge deficit of cancer patients — and we know they're out there and we know that cancer hasn't gone away.

Source: CBC News August 17, 2021 07:52 UTC