Maryland cancer specialists and health officials trying to organize the state's first cancer control plan think they have discovered their biggest handicap -- they need a "boss." And they are encouraging Gov. William Donald Schaefer to appoint one.
Now, there is no group with the authority to direct various public and private organizations with a role in battling cancer. And the state has already fallen behind schedule in implementing a key part of its recently announced anti-cancer plan -- its effort to curb smoking statewide.
No one disputes the need for quick action. Maryland has ranked first among states in its cancer death rate for the last two years in a row.
"We need a leader with some sort of vision," said Dr. Albert Owens, director of the Johns Hopkins Oncology Center.
That leader, Dr. Owens and other cancer specialists say, should take the form of a cancer commission or a state cancer advisory board established by the governor. It would need the clout to hold accountable everybody with a role in pursuing the state cancer plan, say Dr. Owens and Dr. Joseph Aisner, director of the University of Maryland Cancer Center.
The state's first Maryland Cancer Control Implementation Plan, dated March 1991, has a timetable for establishing programs in three areas -- reduction and prevention of tobacco use, early detection and treatment of breast cancer and early detection and treatment of cervical cancer.
Breast cancer and uterine cancer coalitions have been organized and have begun meeting on schedule. But the tobacco coalition has yet to get off the ground, state officials admit.
The tobacco plan's schedule said that by March 31, agencies such as the American Cancer Society would all meet to discuss the tobacco implementation plan. By April 30, they were supposed to agree on recommendations to be presented at the first statewide coalition meeting.
But as of the end of last week, an official with the American Cancer Society in Maryland said, the agency had not yet been contacted.
The state cancer plan was created to satisfy a federal grant that the state health department received and that the National Cancer Institute approved two months ago, said Robert Eastridge, deputy health secretary. He suggested that if the plan had been approved earlier, the anti-tobacco effort would likely be on track.
The fact the current cancer plan is tied to a federal grant is one of its limitations and another reason for establishing a permanent oversight group, Dr. Aisner said.
