A standard that has been loudly requested for years by patient and former cancer patients’ associations. The stop to the request for health data for mortgages or competitions finds the support of the Executive. Health Minister Schillaci will follow the process and ensure the necessary contribution from the Government
“The government is paying close attention to the parliamentary bills on cancer oblivion,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement. “For this reason, I asked the Minister of Health Schillaci to follow the process and ensure the necessary contribution from the executive. The goal we set ourselves is to arrive, in the shortest possible time, at a standard capable of providing answers to a problem extremely concrete and which greatly affects the lives of many Italians”. There are 9 bills presented by the various parliamentary groups and by the Cnel and the rapporteurs, Patrizia Marrocco (FI) and Maria Elena Boschi (Az-Iv) are preparing a unified text.
The bill
The law will provide for two time brackets within which the right to oncological oblivion will be granted: ten years after the end of treatment for those who had cancer after the age of 21, five years for those who had it when younger. After this period, “no one will be able to ask these people to write on a form that they have had cancer” underlines Elisabetta Iannelli, general secretary of FAVO (Italian Federation of Voluntary Oncology Associations). “And this will apply to life insurance, often linked to mortgages, which in these cases are not disbursed or are disbursed with an increased premium, but also the protection of workers, for example in terms of bankruptcy selections. And suitability for ‘adoption of would-be parents’.
Boschi: “On the calendar in July”
The Health Commission was supposed to meet today, but was postponed due to national mourning. “So we are waiting for next week’s commission calendar” said Maria Elena Boschi (Az-Iv). “We are confident – she adds – that the procedure in the commission can be quick to arrive in the Chamber the first week of July as scheduled. It would be a good sign – he concludes – if it were unanimously approved. Precisely to try to arrive at a shared result, we have chosen the path of the unified text”. The right to oncological oblivion is an issue that affects almost one million people in Italy. Francesco Cognetti, President of Foce (Federation of Oncologists, Cardiologists and Hematologists ) therefore underlined the importance of speeding up the process. “These citizens – explains Cognetti – have recovered from a tumor but, due to bureaucracy, are still sick and risk discrimination”.
In Europe
A law on cancer oblivion is already in force in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Romania, “and it would also be in Spain if the premier hadn’t resigned”, underlined the general secretary of FAVO. Now it’s up to our country: “Undoubtedly there is an acceleration – he said – but we must keep our guard up. We are talking about a cultural turning point, a very strong message, in which the figure of the cured of cancer is regulated and rights are fixed very precise. The consensus seems bipartisan to me, I think the time is ripe but things must be done quickly and well: the law must also be applicable”.
Source-tg24.sky.it