Marco Sánchez suffers from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that attacks the lungs and pancreas.
This Friday, January 6, he was carrying a six-liter oxygen tank that must be refilled several times a day, as it lasts two hours. Pay $10.
His treatment is received at the Carlos Andrade Marín hospital, of the IESS. He affirmed that since 2019 there are no medicines and that he covers them out of his pocket and with the support of a foundation. From $400 to $430 a month is what is spent monthly.
“Enough of so many unfulfilled promises. Help us with the medication, ”he said outside the Zarzuela building, of the Ecuadorian Security Institute (IESS), in the north of Quito, where a group of relatives and patients with various diseases gathered.
President Guillermo Lasso announced the construction of five new hospitals and surprise visits to verify care
“We have no medicine.” So said one of the billboards displaying passers-by passing through the area.
It is one of the many requests that have been made in sit-ins and marches, but that the government authorities have not been able to solve.
There were shouts: “What do we order? What do we demand? Medicines! Mr. President (Guillermo Lasso), listen to the patients”. The claim was accompanied by sounds of drums and whistles.
That was the response of the National Alliance for Health (ANS), made up of 33 organizations of patients with rare, catastrophic, chronic, transplanted, disabled, and trade unions, to the statement by President Guillermo Lasso that his government will give priority to health this year.
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On January 3, Lasso led a first work meeting called Encuentro por la Salud.
He announced that he personally will go unexpectedly this year to hospitals to talk with the relatives of patients and also with patients to find out how care is being provided.
Gustavo Dávila, who is part of the ANS, mentioned that Vice President Alfredo Borrero visited hospitals, made a diagnosis, there were emergency declarations and changes of authorities, but the lack of medicines, supplies, reagents persists…
“It does not make sense to offer that ‘we are going to visit the hospitals’, that ‘we are going to verify’, that ‘we are going to see the pain of the patients’, when medicines are not purchased,” said Dávila.
Carmen Mayorga, president of the Manitos de Amor foundation, which cares for patients with rare diseases, mostly children, was also at the sit-in.
He assured that there are two minors who have not received their medicine from the IESS for four months.
Mayorga expressed concern because, due to the internal mess caused by the workers’ voice in the Social Security Board of Directors, the procedure for the purchase of medicines has not been carried out.
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“As long as they are in this lawsuit, it will not happen, and we demand that they reach an agreement, because those who are paying the consequences of their ineffectiveness are the patients,” said the woman.
Patients must administer an ampoule that the IESS did deliver and that has a cost of $2,500. It should be placed every eight days.
Dávila proposed a meeting with Lasso so that he can hear the needs out loud and solutions can be proposed.
The sit-in was also carried out in the basement of the Guayas Governorate. There, a group of patients asked that there be medicine constantly and that the offers be fulfilled. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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