The Ministry of Health and Welfare has recently finalized the third five-year National Cancer Management Plan, which is aimed at improving the quality of life of cancer patients and expanding the government’s role in fighting cancer.

The survival rate of cancer patients in Korea has dramatically improved in recent years thanks to increased efforts for early detection of cancer and advances in cancer treatment.

The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer between 2009 and 2013 was 69.4 percent, a sharp increase from the 41.2 percent for people diagnosed between 1993 and 1995.

Yet cancer still remains the biggest cause of death in Korea. In 2014, some 76,000 Koreans died of cancer, accounting for 28.6 percent of the total deaths. As the number of cancer patients continues to rise, the government needs to step up its fight against cancer.

The government’s new five-year plan, which covers the period from 2016 to 2020, calls for, among other things, early diagnosis of lung cancer to lower the death rate from the disease.

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in Korea. It accounted for 22.8 percent of all cancer deaths in 2014. Although the smoking rate has started to decrease, the prevalence of lung cancer is still increasing.

But lung cancer has not been included in the list of cancers eligible for a free checkup. Under the five-year plan, the government will launch a pilot program for a free lung cancer screening next year.

It plans to offer low-dose spiral computer tomography to people aged 55-74 who have been smoking about one pack -- 20 cigarettes -- per day for the past 30 years.

The number of smokers to benefit from the pilot program is small -- an estimated 8,000. The government needs to expand the program gradually by beefing up the capacities of public cancer centers in each region of the nation.

At the same time, it needs to step up its campaign against smoking. A recent report released by the Japanese government said clear links have been established between smoking and 22 diseases, including seven cancers -- lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, liver and pancreas.

Another main thrust of the latest plan is to build a support system for cancer survivors. Thanks to the rise in Korea’s cancer survival rate, the number of cancer patients who have managed to survive five years after being diagnosed with cancer has increased sharply. The figure surpassed 1.37 million as of 2013.

But the government’s cancer management plan has thus far been focused on treating cancer, paying little attention to the physical and emotional side effects that cancer survivors suffer from after treatment.

Most cancer survivors live with some kinds of physical and emotional problems as they face lifetime risks associated with their cancer therapy. These problems need to be addressed to improve the quality of their lives.

The five-year plan calls on the government to set up a comprehensive support center for cancer survivors in each of the nation’s 12 regions by 2020.

The Health Ministry plans to launch a pilot center next year to help cancer survivors manage the late effects of cancer treatment and offer them advice about nutrition, exercise and physical activity.

While it is necessary to build public support centers, the ministry needs to encourage private hospitals to provide survivorship care to ensure that cancer survivors across the nation can access rehabilitation services with ease.