Almost 11,000 people signed the petition that defends equal access to ovarian cancer treatment for all women and will be delivered on Monday to the Assembly of the Republic.
The petition “No Portuguese woman with ovarian cancer will be left behind” will be delivered by the Ovarian Cancer and Other Gynecological Cancer Movement (MOG), which in this way marks World Ovarian Cancer Day.
At 12:00 this Thursday the request had been signed by 10,967 people.
Ovarian cancer is the seventh most common type of cancer among women, with about 314 thousand new cases per yearand it is the 5th cause of death from cancer among women, being the gynecological cancer with the highest mortality rate.
Based on clinical evidence, 85% of women with ovarian cancer will/will relapse after surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy, and the majority will die within the next five years (30%). “In the case of this cancer, access to first-line maintenance treatment may mean longer life and better quality of life”, says the text of the petition.
There is no national ovarian cancer registry, but according to the MOG, it is estimated that around 560 new cases were diagnosed in 2020.
The association recalls that a first-line maintenance treatment option already exists in Portugal, but that it is only for patients with a genetic mutation (sBRCA or Gbrca).
“This decision is neither democratic nor understandable. The patients without mutation, in addition to being the majority of ovarian cancer cases (more than 75%), are the ones that have increased medical needsdue to a worse prognosis,” the text of the petition states.
Quoted in the statement released this Thursday by the MOG, the president of the organization highlights that “those who have the economic capacity can access this treatment in private hospitals, but women and families who do not have the monetary means to make that investment, end without access“.
“We cannot allow these women to be left behind. There are women who die and families who lose mothers, sisters and daughters due to gaps in access to a therapy that is available to all patients in other European countries”, reinforces Cláudia Fraga, also a survivor of ovarian cancer.
MOG is a non-profit association, formally created on December 18, 2019, dedicated to women suffering from ovarian or other gynecological cancers.
Source: Observadora
