On Wednesday, May 30th, the Senate passed the proposal that requires public and private health services to disclose two types of health problems: cancer and congenital malformations. According to this initiative, once the diagnosis has been made, it is mandatory that the hospital, doctor or clinic of the public and private networks communicate this diagnosis to the authorities between 24 hours and 7 days after detection of the disease. The bill was sent to the Executive for enactment. It is expected to enter into force 180 days after its publication.

The issue was debated in the Social Affairs Committee, which identified cancer as the second largest cause of mortality in Brazil, responsible for about 15% of annual deaths. Hence the importance of establishing public policies and measures aimed at tracking and treating this set of diseases and the rehabilitation of patients.

The bill will identify bottlenecks for care, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the disease, as well as establishing technical devices for effective compliance with the ‘60 Days Law‘. According to this bill, once the diagnosis has been made, it is compulsory for the hospital, doctor or clinic from both public and private networks to communicate that diagnosis to the authorities. The measure will facilitate the follow-up so that treatment begins in a maximum of 60 days.