Sandra Gomes, a 40 year old national health nurse, is fighting breast cancer for the second time in her life. There is a medicine that can help her to stay alive, however the medicine in question is not available for this type of cancer via the Portuguese National Health Service (SNS), due to the cost.
In statements to the Correio da Manhã newspaper, Sandra guarantees that she asked Infarmed for access to the drug in January but so far has not received a response “I don’t want to believe that I graduated in nursing and that the National Health Service (SNS) is going to let me die, me and so many people. "I believed in the SNS when I took my course”, says Sandra, understandably in despair.
“Things are starting to get worse. I am a human being, I have rights, just as I have duties, but I have rights. I cannot stay at home, impassive and serene, waiting for an answer. We can't wait a lifetime. Time does not stop, and my life is at risk.”
The story of her first cancer involved eight chemotherapy sessions at Hospital de Faro. Sandra lost her left breast. She was also submitted to 33 radiotherapy sessions. She was discharged in June last year. Four months later, a recurrence came, after a gynecology consultation.
Sandra believes that she is already suffering because of the lack unavailability of a drug that should already be available to SNS patients. Thousands of euros are needed to have access to the medicine in private.
Source https://postal.pt/ . Photo by CMTV
