How The Can’t Wait Law Can Help People With Limiting Illnesses

The law has just been passedI can not wait “, a measure that regulates the access to health services and preferential care for people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

According to figures from the Ministry of Health, it is estimated that in Chile there are approximately more than 20,000 people who suffer from these conditions, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

This type of chronic disease seriously affect the quality of life of those who suffer from it causing, among other symptoms, constant abdominal pain, faecal incontinence, bloody stools, defecation urgency, nausea and vomiting.

To come to the aid of this sector of the population, the Law No. 21,559 published in the Official Journal on April 28.

The initiative seeks ensure respect for dignity and non-discrimination to patients with these diseases, facilitating access to hygiene services and that this is done free and fast in addition to the dissemination of said information.

Among its main points, the “I Can’t Wait” law involves the free access to restrooms in general businesses and state agencies for people with inflammatory bowel disease .

According to the law, access to the health service in said entities cannot be conditioned to those who request access and identify themselves as patients in said conditions.

For the above, the diagnosis can be confirmed by the following means:

• Title issued by a registered patient organization in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 20,850, which creates a system of financial protection for expensive diagnoses and treatments and pays posthumous tribute to Mr. Luis Ricarte Soto Gallegos.
• Medical certificate issued by a surgeon, which must contain your full name, identity card and registration number in the Register of Individual Health Providers of the Superintendence of Health.

Preferential attention is also indicated, indicating the following:

-People with inflammatory bowel or stoma diseases they will have preferential attention in customer service under the same conditions as people with disabilities

If the rule is not respected, the person or establishment that deprives the right will be sanctioned with a fine which can range from 1 to 4 UTM. In case of recidivism, a sanction of twice the established maximum will be applied.

As part of World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day, commemorated on May 19, patients called make the “I Can’t Wait” law visible with the primary objective of ending discrimination.

There Carlos Quintana Foundation Filial Temuco highlighted the importance of taking such pathologies into account, as well as educating on the rights established by the norm.

Karen Tapia, representative of the foundation, spoke about the next challenges to be taken into account after the approval of the law.

–What is the next step now that we already have the law? For us, there is an urgent need to educate so that the law does not remain on paper and is known to the whole community. so that it is effective and that there is no possibility of conditioning free access to the bathroom or the sanitary service.

Moreover, it is put on the table on need to make progress in access to new care within the framework of the Ricarte Soto law who created the Financial Protection System for high-cost diagnosis and treatment.

-These are limiting diseases, which prevents many people from leading normal lives . For this reason, another of the challenges is to have more state-of-the-art treatments that help us to further improve the quality of life and now, pending the new decree of the Ricarte Soto law, there is an opportunity for the authorities to advance the improvement of access to these therapies for the benefit of many patients.