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The Association of People with Cancer and Family Members of Bolivia staged a protest at the doors of the Ministry of Health demanding attention from its members, that the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (Aben) be activated and items be allocated to oncology services, among others.
In addition, the sector requests an audience with President Luis Arce, claiming that he also suffered from cancer.
“Listen to us, brother president Luis Arce Catacora, we want to talk to you. Only you can change the fate of cancer patients in Bolivia. Because, like us, he has fought against this disease and understands what it is about,” reads a statement.
“We are tired of long meetings with technicians who do not understand what we experience every day, who do not understand what we need, to whom we have to justify our needs. We ask that you give us a few minutes of your time so that we can explain what we think, we will be concrete”, it is added.
Among several difficulties, the sector considers that it is necessary to monitor patients through telemedicine so that they do not face their symptoms alone and that in case of emergencies they are referred in a timely manner to a specific care center for cancer patients and Covid-19, with the aim of preventing them from wandering from one place to another, endangering their lives.
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They also ask for rapid action to be taken in the event that positive cases of covid-19 are presented in the shelter for cancer patients, this in order to avoid the eviction of patients, as happened previously.
Lawsuits
Among other aspects, they request that cancer centers be opened that will allow fast and timely care of patients in the public health system, in this framework, they ask that care be started in Aben and that full care be activated in the Hospital The High South. According to the association, only the chemotherapy area is working, but not the radiotherapy or surgery section.
Another of the requests that the sector has is a greater provision of items for the health personnel of the oncology services in the Hospital de Clínicas, the El Alto Sur hospital and the Aben.
“The oncology professionals attend only seven patients, for such a large demand of patients who come from Oruro, Potosí and many other places,” said one of the protesters.
The demonstrators also stressed that for months the signing of an agreement worked out between cancer patients and the National Program to Fight Cancer on 14 problems that must be corrected to improve care has been pending.
“So far (the document) was not signed or assumed by the highest authority of the Ministry of Health (Jeyson Auza)”, the document also indicates.
