July the 11th, 2026 – Zagreb Children’s Hospital has launched a digital passport for childhood cancer survivors, providing them with lifelong follow-up healthcare plans.
Anyone who has been touched by cancer, either themselves or through a loved one, knows that it leaves an indelible psychological scar that never goes away. Even if the cancer is ultimately cured, its haunting shadow remains for an eternity.
Index reports that the Zagreb Children’s Hospital has begun introducing a new digital passport for people treated for cancer during childhood and adolescence. The digital document giving former patients personalised lifelong follow-up plans based on current European clinical guidelines.
Known as SurPass, the digital tool is designed to improve long-term healthcare for childhood cancer survivors by bringing together their individual treatment history, assessing their risk of late complications and providing tailored recommendations for ongoing medical monitoring.
Personalised lifelong care for childhood cancer survivors
Thanks to tremendous medical advances in oncology and cancer treatment, over 80% of children diagnosed with cancer survive very successfully into adulthood. However, more than two-thirds develop late effects related to their treatment, with some experiencing serious health complications later in life as an indirect result of their experience with the disease and its associated treatments. The SurPass digital passport aims to address this problem by creating an individualised electronic health record for every survivor, allowing healthcare professionals to better monitor their long-term health and intervene earlier when problems arise.
Easier transition to adult healthcare
The digital passport contains details of a patient’s diagnosis and treatment and uses internationally recognised guidelines to generate personalised recommendations for future healthcare. It will be accessible to former patients, family doctors and medical specialists, helping ensure important medical information is not lost as survivors move from paediatric care into the adult healthcare system. Hospital officials say the system will improve continuity of care, reduce the risk of missing critical treatment information and support faster clinical decision-making throughout a survivor’s lifetime.
Part of a major European project as more understanding than we’ve ever had before aids humanity in the fight against cancer
The Croatian rollout forms part of the e-QuoL project, funded through the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme. The initiative brings together 32 partners from 16 European countries to develop digital healthcare solutions aimed at improving the quality of life of people treated for cancer during childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. The Children’s Hospital Zagreb is one of the project’s partners and leads a work package focused on the ethical and social aspects of implementing digital health tools.
“Every cancer survivor should receive an individual plan“
Professor Jelena Roganović, Croatia’s national coordinator for implementing the Survivor Passport, described the programme as a major milestone for long-term cancer care. “Our primary goal is for every survivor to receive an individualised follow-up plan based on the risks associated with their treatment, allowing us to detect late effects early, intervene in time and preserve quality of life,” she said. Hospital officials added that the introduction of SurPass reinforces Croatia’s role in advancing modern survivorship care while supporting the objectives of Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, which places increasing emphasis on long-term quality of life after cancer treatment.
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