The Euskadi Cancer Registry, an office created in 1986 and attached to the Ministry of Health, does not have up-to-date information on the real prevalence of the pathology, which is the main cause of death in men and children under 15 and the second in women, according to documentation collected by this newspaper. The latest consolidated data for the entire autonomous community dates from 2019, again according to these references. Many internal sources claim that this lack of data has already meant that the autonomous community has not been able to provide in October 2025 the data required by the REDECAN system, the Spanish network of regional archives, nor to respond by January 2026 to European (ENCR) and global (IACR) requests.
REDECAN indicates that the Cancer Registry is a fundamental tool to “know the incidence of cancer disease, its trend, survival and epidemiological prevalence, cataloged by location or geographic area, age groups, sex or other characterizations that may be useful.” It is expected to collect data from both Osakidetza and private centers. It also “facilitates the analysis of the clinical evolution of different types of cancer” and makes it possible to “contribute to the development of research”. In the recent Oncological Plan, from October, there was talk of “strengthening the collaboration of the Euskadi Cancer Registry with national and international registries”, particularly with regard to childhood cases, but the incidence data was presented for the period from 2001 to 2019.
In light of the documentation to which this newspaper has had access, Euskadi has been facing a problem in this matter for years. Lack of staff, incomplete IT developments are mixed together – despite the annual aid of 50,000 euros that the autonomous community has received from the Ministry of Health at least since 2024 – and the apparent neglect of internal complaints that have been occurring for months. The problem is particularly pressing in Biscay, but data recording also poses problems in Álava. The situation is better in Gipuzkoa.
An example: the case of the IACR. The International Association of Cancer Registries requests information every four years. The last request was from 2021 and data from 2017 was provided. Now it would only be possible to provide those that exist until 2019. More data: in 2010 there were the equivalent of 4.5 professionals in the Cancer Registry and now there are 3 and in Álava there are none left.
“The data is recorded in all hospitals, care, treatments, patients,… Everything. Without a doubt, all the data is recorded,” respond health sources. Advisor Alberto Martínez’s team, however, indicates “that the data transfer application used is more than 15 years old” and that it is being “modernized” with the aim of “guaranteeing a safer, more efficient platform adapted to current needs”. “The precedent was becoming obsolete,” says Health. They attribute this to possible “technical difficulties” in the “interoperability” of the data. They also indicate that the workforce has been reinforced and that there is no need to return any aid line to the state.
In the Basque Parliament, EH Bildu’s spokesperson at the Health Commission, Rebeka Ubera, had already recorded several questions to the advisor at the beginning of December so that he could provide explanations on this subject, both on the shipments to REDECAN, ENCR and CIRC as well as on the IT applications. Health has until early 2026 to provide the information.
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