Transportation of Oncological Patients in the City Of Rijeka

Abstract

The city of Rijeka is the first city in the Republic of Croatia that in April 2023 launched a pilot project of free transportation of oncology patients from their place of residence to the Clinic for Radiotherapy and Oncology KBC Rijeka. The project was initiated in cooperation with the Communal Company Autotrolej d.o.o. and Rijeka Clinical Hospital Center. Oncology patients are a particularly vulnerable group of people who very often go to therapy and go through a long process of treatment, and along with painstaking therapy, financial problems often occur, and transportation from home to therapy is a significant problem. The goal of starting a pilot project is to care for patients and to strive to maintain the therapy process continuously in order to primarily contribute to the quality of life and the fight against malignant diseases. MC Autotrolej Ltd., which provides public transport services in the area of the City of Rijeka and surrounding local self-government units, already has experience in transporting groups of citizens with reduced mobility, given that it has been transporting people with disabilities using specially adapted vans for years. The initiative to start a pilot project resulted in the satisfaction of all involved participants, which ultimately led to the second phase of the project and the transport of patients to radiotherapy, i.e., radiation, while in the first phase it was only possible to go to the Day Hospital of the Clinic for Radiotherapy and Oncology of Rijeka hospital center.