The Movement in Defense of Cancer Patients in the Algarve have scheduled a vigil against the sending of cancer patients from the Algarve to Seville for the 13th, in front of Loulé Town Hall.
Officials from the Movement in Defense of Cancer Patients in the Algarve criticize the mayor of Loulé, Vítor Aleixo, for not “having yet said a single word on this issue.”
The vigil is against a public tender that obliges patients from the Algarve region to travel to Spain to receive radiosurgery treatment.
In a statement, the movement said that the vigil aims to protest “against the sending of cancer patients by the Socialist Government of Dr. António Costa, via decision of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), for treatment in Seville, in a private health company, when there was a viable alternative in Faro”.
With the initiative, scheduled for next Tuesday 13th December at 3 pm, the movement also intends to “demand the immediate cancellation of the effects of this international public tender, and the dismissal of the CHUA board of directors” for considering that it “does not respect the rights of cancer patients” in the Algarve region.
“The protest also aims to wake up the mayors of the Algarve from their deep sleep and demand that they intervene with the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the President of the CHUA Board of Directors, Ana Varges Gomes, to immediately stop this violation of the rights of cancer patients”.
“We want patients from the region to be treated in the national territory with quality and respecting the criterion of proximity to their region of residence. This gross violation of Article 64 of the Constitution of the Republic, which violates the right to health and the right to equal treatment in health, cannot go unpunished”, says a statement release by the Movement in Defense of Cancer Patients in the Algarve.
According to the movement, as a sign of protest, a “V of Shame” will be posted on the door of the Loulé Town Hall (Faro district), which will be the symbol of CHUA's decision to send cancer patients from the Algarve to Spain and of a decision that shames an entire region”.
Carrying out radiosurgery treatments for cancer patients of the Algarve in Seville, Spain, results from the fact that it was a Spanish clinic that won an international public tender, in which two companies competed, one Portuguese and the other Spanish, to provide this service.
The PSD deputies elected by the Algarve have also announced that they want to urgently hear in parliament the administration of the Centro Hospitalar do Algarve, the Health Regulatory Entity (ERS) and patient associations, to clarify the situation.
