More than 10 months since the regional elections the Brussels-Capital Region is still without a regional government. The political impasse is having a serious impact on not-for-profit groups that receive all or some of their operating cost from the regional authorities.
Breast cancer screening programme in Brussels on hold due to political impasse in the capital
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One such group is Bruprev, a not-for-profit group that is responsible for the organisation and coordination of breast cancer screening in the capital. The medical journals ‘Medi-Sfeer’ and ‘Le Spécialiste’ write that the delay in forming a new regional government means that the funding required by Bruprev to continue the breast cancer screening programme is blocked.
Ten months after the regional elections, the political vacuum in Brussels is starting to have an impact on public health. The Bruprev, the not-for-profit organisation responsible for coordinating breast cancer screening campaigns in the Brussels-Capital Region was unable to send out any invitations for women to screened during the first quarter of 2025.
Women in Brussels that are aged between 50 and 69 should normally receive an invitation for a mammogram every two years. Julie Soens is a radiologist at a hospital in the centre of Brussels. She told the Brussels regional news platform Bruzz that the siguation is dceeply regrettable.
"The purpose of biennial screening is to detect lesions while they are as small as possible or are at an early stage. Given this it is deplorable that more than three months have already been lost through political procrastination."
Julie Soens condemns the political games that she says are endangering the health of thousands of women and calls on politicians to take responsibility. At the same time, the radiologist stresses that women that “find a lump or are worried can always go to the breast clinic with a prescription from their GP”.