The Congress of the Republic is carrying out the process of a project that seeks care from the age of 40 so that women can undergo mammography and thus detect possible breast cancer in time. In addition, it aims to eliminate the long waits that patients face before receiving treatment.
As in the case of Lisbeth Sánchez, a woman who in 2018 had a strange sensation in one of her breasts, went to her doctor who sent her a mammogram and ultrasound to be aware of any eventuality.
“The doctor did the self-exam, he felt me and told me you don’t have any mass. When he begins to do the ultrasound he does not locate the mass, he did it until he located it and told me “Lisbeth, if it is not for the mammogram …”, that is, the mass was perfectly visible on the mammogram, “said the woman.
A week later and after a biopsy, Lisbeth was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The woman, who is a social worker specializing in senior management, says “never in my life did I imagine that I was going to get cancer and I know what that implies, in clinical terms, in terms of prognosis … I’m going to be an oncology patient all my life and that really cuts your dreams off. “
Lisbeth has a prepaid medical plan, her diagnosis and treatment have been on time, but that is not the lot of the majority of Colombians.
Every year 15,509 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed, of which 4,411 lose the battle.
Claudia Amaya, director of Senosama indicates that These deaths “can be preventable if these patients are diagnosed in time, but they also receive timely treatment and that is what is not happening in Colombia.”
It is for this reason that the Congress project was born.
The representative to the Chamber Óscar Villamizar says that, if the project passes, “the obligation to quote and offer mammography from the age of 40 will be in charge of the EPS.”
“The first and most important point is that from the day of suspicion for breast cancer until the start of treatment, no more than 45 days pass, this means that we will not see again what is happening today, between six and nine months in the contributory regime and between 9 and 12 months in the subsidized regime, ”Villamizar pointed out.
The authors of the project have expressed their concern about the changes that the document had in the third debate, they assure that it would take away the essence, they also say that they hope to correct the situation for the last debate.
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