I am very concerned.
Let's take the example of colon cancer—it always comes back to that example. If you have stage 1 disease, which is very localized, surgery will put an end to the episode. You have an 80% chance of cure, and after that, it's over.
However, if the disease has started to spread into the lymph nodes, which are like filters around the tumour, and the disease is now in stage 3, you will need additional chemotherapy for a period of about six months. There are costs associated with that, and there is certainly increased morbidity for patients, as they have to endure the effects of treatment. The chances of recovery will be less: at best, it will be 50% to 65%.
This means that a large number of patients, one-third to one-half of them, will eventually relapse and return to the health care system for other equally costly therapies that will require human resources. The physical resources exist, the hospitals exist. We can always imagine revamping hospitals, but we know that antineoplastic treatments, cancer treatments, cost tens of thousands of dollars per episode of care for a patient.
These are health care system costs that will be recurrent for many years. Relapse does not necessarily occur in the first few months after the initial diagnosis, it can occur, two years, three years, five years, or even 10 years later. This imposes a human burden on the patients, who will suffer more, but also on the entire health care system, which will necessarily have to make major investments in human and material resources.