PERU

On June 4, the Ministry of Health launched a public consultation on the draft regulation of Law No. 31041 on medical urgency for the timely detection and comprehensive care of child and adolescent cancer. The regulation proposes to guarantee timely detection and comprehensive care for this group, in order to reduce the rate of late diagnosis, treatment abandonment and morbimortality. The public consultation was closed, so the final document is expected to be published in the short term.

The main points of the draft regulation are:

• The beneficiaries of the law are young people under 18 years of age, who have been diagnosed with cancer by a specialist. In this sense, all those who are not affiliated to a specific Social Security, are directly enrolled in the Integral Health Insurance in order to have oncological coverage. Universal coverage ranges from early detection to comprehensive care.

• It establishes the role of health care institutions for early detection and timely referral of the patient to another health center, when necessary; specialized care; and the training of professionals who understand the timely detection of childhood cancer.

• It creates a National Cancer Registry for children and adolescents. Public and private health entities will have to provide detailed information on each of the patients they treat. A National Observatory for the Fight against Cancer in Children and Adolescents is also created.

• Health institutions must apply telemedicine to provide cancer diagnosis and treatment services in those areas that are remote or difficult to access.

• The State will offer an economic subsidy to parents or guardians of children with cancer who are treated in public institutions. Meanwhile, private entities will offer it as part of their oncology insurance plans.