On July 28, the Senate Health Committee rejected one of the modifications approved by Deputies to the National Cancer bill. The article in question refers to the labor jurisdiction of workers with this disease. It is expected that the Senate plenary will approve the Committee’s report and that a Mixed Commission will be set up with members from both Houses to work on wording for the text in the short term. 

The senators making up the committee agreed to approve all the modifications raised by the deputies except the one establishing that workers “diagnosed with cancer will enjoy protection under the labor law, from the diagnosis of the disease up to one year after total remission has been medically certified.”  In this sense, Committee president, Carolina Goic (PDC – opposition), maintained that the wording was imprecise, since persons suffering from cancer do not always go into “total remission”. 

The text will now be sent to the plenary, where senators are expected to approve the idea mooted by the Health Committee to set up a Mixed Commission to agree on the wording of the article in question. The senators also stated during today’s debate that their objective is for the bill to be approved by both Houses next week.