The National Diabetes Law No. 26.914 was sanctioned in 2013 as an extension of the original law of 1989. guarantees the coverage of 100% of the treatment of the disease by the health system, whether public or private.
Its regulation stipulates that every two years an update of the list of medicines and technologies whose coverage would be guaranteed by the regulations itself, to keep up to date the provision of the best available tools.However, this update has not yet happened, so it already has an unacceptable delay.
But in addition to this delay, from the Civil Association Diabetes Argentina (ADA), the Argentine League of Diabetic Protection (LAPDI) and the Argentine Federation of Diabetes (FAD) fear that it will be due to a policy of cut and adjustment to the detriment to the detrimentof what guarantees the spirit of the law: include new medications and technologies that are already used daily by patients in Argentina and other countries in the world and that have proven to contribute to significantly improving the control of their illness and their quality oflife.
It is important to keep in mind that diabetes is considered a true epidemic: according to the results of the latest national risk factors survey of the Ministry of Health of the Nation, 9.8% of those over 18 presented diabetes or high blood glucose, which constitutes a number of more than 3 million Argentines.
The lack of adequate control of the disease increases the possibilities of developing, among others, eye affections with risk of blindness, renal failure, cardiovascular diseases and problems in the lower limbs that can even reach amputation.
“In a country where health is a constitutional right, they can only benefit from the best advances of recent years who can pay them in their pocket, while those who have an economical passing less privileged, will continue treated with options that in some cases alreadyThey have become obsolete in many parts of the world, ”they recognized from Ada, Lapdi and Fad.This reopens a gap by raising a medicine for rich and another for poor, even when the argument of cost in some cases is at least debatable.
“What we are asking for from the patient community is that the law provides for the coverage of all medicines and supplies approved in our country for the management of diabetes.Then, each treating doctor will consider which option is the most convenient for each patient and will prescribe what corresponds, ”said Mr. Sylvia Brunoldi, president of the Argentine Diabetic Protection League (LAPDI).
"The regulations cannot limit the spirit of a national law, putting a preserve in coverage, which is clearly guaranteed to 100%, according to medical prescription and according to scientific and technological advances," he added.
During 2017, several civil society organizations worked together with the Ministry of Health of the Nation in updating this law."Within the concerns of the patients, the inexplicable delay is highlighted despite the insistent claims and the high risk that when the expected update comes out, it does not contemplate some medications and technological innovations," said Mrs. Adriana Angelina, presidentof Ada.
“Among what the update would leave the Vademécum outside and without recognition of its coverage at 100 percent as the Diabetes Law marks, there are some products of a newer category, known as analogues of the LPG-1, which are tools ofProven efficacy that help control diabetes and that professionals have already indicated regularly for several years.Nor is it clear in the law what happens with insulin bombs or infusors withIntegrated monitoring, ”they added from the associations.
Another advance that is not contemplated, and that has meant an improvement in the control of the disease and a revolution in the quality of life of the patients, are the glucose meters known as 'Flash technology', which allow considerably reducing the daily puncturesand show glucose behavior trends.
“We do not refer to the expensive devices that in other countries indicate in some very specific cases, but to the typical sensor that is applied in the arm in replacement of the multiple punctures to measure glucose levels and that in the world is already acurrent use technology.In fact, in Argentina people are seen on the street using them for a long time, ”explained Mrs. Angelina, who has diabetes several decades ago.
“Measure the glucose without clicking strongly improves the patient's quality of life, it changes it completely.Perhaps without having diabetes it is difficult to understand the change, but clicking several times a day, every day, throughout your life is very difficult.The cure of diabetes today is not an option, but it is inadmissible that we are deprived of such significant advances that they directly impact our quality of life, ”said Adriana Angelina.
“It is worrying that the well -being of patients is not the priority when analyzing the update of the Diabetes Law.The State is to guarantee our right to health and, in this case, it is not only lagging behind, but is staying halfway.What is even worse, this serious delay generates a legal vacuum taken advantage of by providers who always took the resolution as a 'roof' and not as a 'floor' and now also restrict certain coverage that had already been providing from the sanction of the law ”, Sylvia Brunoldi said.
In addition, it is not taken into account that a person with diabetes is usually medicated simultaneously for other associated pathologies, such as diabetic neuropathy, dyslipidemias and heart disease, which are not contemplated in the Diabetes Law, so they impact their pocket and force itto choose between one and the other or have to abandon the treatment.
In a desirable scenario, we would like to guarantee the coverage of the advances that are already available in our country, but “that some more agile mechanism for the inclusion of everything that will arrive is also foreseen.Science progresses continuously and, to the extent that they help improve the management of such a complex disease, we should accelerate its inclusion in coverage systems, ”added Judit Laufer, president of the Argentine Federation of Diabetes (FAD) andmother of a young man with diabetes.
"The update of this law should not be taken lightly, we are several million Argentines waiting for answers and wanting to live better," they said.
These patient associations are presenting a petition to the authorities of the Executive Power to consider the relevance of this situation to have the guarantees that the decisions taken respond directly to the needs and the current reality of people with diabetes.
Science has already understood that the better controlled the patient and the more strict its adhesion to treatment, the greater the chances of preventing the complications of diabetes, with the corresponding savings of the costs that this implies for the entire health system,This was indicated by Adriana Angelina.
In this regard, Judith Laufer remarked that diabetological education "is a fundamental pillar for the success of the management of this disease.They obtain better results and health benefits those educated and correctly informed from reliable sources, who are able to make decisions about their nutrition, theirLifestyle, your controls and with good communication with your doctor.It will use to have the best medications if the patient is not trained to carry out that treatment and achieve a better quality of life. ”
On this point, from LAPDI they recalled that the law speaks 10 hours a year of education for patients, but does not clarify how or who will teach it, ignoring the central figure of the educator in diabetes.
About Ada
The Argentine Diabetes Association is a non -profit public good entity with more than 40 years of experience.He is a member of the International Diabetes Federation.
Its main objective is to educate, defend, inform, protect and tend to the improvement of people's physical and spiritual health.Providing diabetological education to people with diabetes, family and the entire community, in order to achieve a better quality of life in society.
Italy 2550, Córdoba.More information: (0351) 153 598-192-ada.cordoba@gmail.com
About Lapdi
LAPDI is the first association of patients in the country created in 1964 by the SAD and member of the International Diabetes Federation.Since then, he is dedicated to providing education and assistance to people with diabetes so that they can achieve a good quality of life and prevent the dreaded complications of the disease.He also works for the prevention of diabetes in the population through the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and in the defense of the rights of people with diabetes to health and a full life without discrimination.
Provides workshops, conferences, free courses for people with diabetes and training for the health team.It also offers specialized medical attention.
More information: (011) 4371-8185 / 155 878-3230 from Monday to Friday from 2 pm to 7 pm, Tucumán 1584-PB, CABA-lapdi@ciudad.com.ar
About the FAD:
The Argentine Federation of Diabetes (FAD) is a non -profit national entity that brings together members of patients and family members as well as groups in distributed training throughout the country.He is a member of the International Diabetes Federation.
Its objective is the education of the patient with diabetes, putting special emphasis on motivation strategies to tend to prevent acute and chronic complications and the protection of the rights of people with diabetes.It was founded in 1973 and made up of medical professionals, family and patients.
At the community level, perform national and regional events, training courses, conferences, talk cycles, camps and sports activities, looking for an experience that provides theoretical and practical elements, aimed at increasing adherence to treatment.
It offers no guidance in all areas of the FAD.More information: (011) 154 186-9994 from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.