Within the framework of the World Blood Cancer Month, the Colombian Foundation of Leukemia and Lymphoma (Funcolombiana) He made an urgent call to the health authorities and public opinion before the death of patients who fail to access the treatments that could save their lives.
The organization presented recent cases that reflect the seriousness of the crisis. A 31 -year -old from Ibagué affiliated with Nueva EPS, died while waiting for the beginning of an acute leukemia, considered potentially curable. Also, a 72 -year -old woman from Bogotá died before receiving the medicine that arrived on the same day of her wake.
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“We are mourning because our patients are dying. They are unacceptable, avoidable deaths, and are a consequence of system inefficiency“Said Yolima Méndez, president of the Foundation. As she said, the experience of patients reflects” the undeniable deterioration of a system that has led them to beg the health services to which they are entitled by law. “
A survey conducted to 333 patients with leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma showed that 77% had difficulties in accessing health services in the last year. The main barrier mentioned by 35%was the delay in the delivery of medicines, followed by problems to access specialists (18%) and medical authorizations (12%).
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The average waiting time to receive oncological medications is 78 days.
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The contrast with 2023 is significant. In that year, 61% of patients considered that medication delivery time was a strength of the system. Today, that same percentage describes it as a weakness. 53% said the situation has worsened compared to the previous year and only 11% report an improvement.
The impact is even stronger among EPS users intervened by the national government. Of these, 69% consider the delivery of medicines as a weakness of the system and have 40% less likely to evaluate this aspect positively against those who are affiliated with non -intervened EPS. “Intervention measures have not improved user experience. On the contrary, they have deepened the inequality and violated fundamental rights such as health and life”Méndez said.
Among the most mentioned causes are Partial deliveries of medications, overdue medical orders, breaches in home shipments, ineffectiveness of guardianships and lack of priority for cancer patients. “The data show that the vital nature of medicines in the treatment of cancer is threatened by filling the daily living of thousands of people who see with impotence how life escapes their hands,” added the president of Funcolombiana.
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Between January and August 2025, complaints from barriers grew 60 % compared to 2024.
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Through the SEBAS program (solution and evidence of health access barriers), the Foundation documented a 60% increase in the barriers reported between January and August 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year. Of those complaints, 66% corresponds to delays in the delivery of medicines. The average waiting time to receive oncological drugs is located in 78 days, that is, more than two and a half months, a period that is incompatible with rapid progression diseases such as acute leukemia or lymphomas.
Funcolombiana reiterated that the delay in oncological treatments not only violates the fundamental right to health, but is deriving in avoidable deaths. The organization insisted that the government must guarantee compliance with the legal obligations of EPS and adopt immediate measures to correct the structural failures of the system.
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Diana K. Rodríguez T.
Portfolio journalist
