In Quintana Roo there is a lack of medicines for children with cancer

Non-governmental organizations have had to intervene to prevent minors from interrupting their treatment.

QUINTANA ROO, (May 28, 2021).- Quintana Roo, like other states of the Republic, faces a shortage of medicines to treat childhood cancer, so organizations have had to intervene to prevent minors from interrupting their treatment.

Yussi Evelyn Dzib Echeverria, president of Fundación Aitana, explained that last week they had to support patients from Chetumal with 40 doses of vincristine (a drug to treat leukemia), and in the coming days, they will also be sending methotrexate.

“There is a shortage here, that the government doesn’t want to talk about, it’s different. Our children from Quintana Roo go to Mérida to receive their treatment so when they arrive, they are told there is no medicine and they have to come back, ” she said.

“In this way, it is that the minors of the state have been able to continue their treatment since the parents or the doctors inform which drugs are the ones that are needed so that these can be obtained in advance,” she continued.

Dzib Echeverria indicated that this has not only affected children with cancer, but also adult patients, who have asked the Foundation for assistance to buy the medicines they need.

The interviewee indicated that the problem could increase, since the pharmaceutical companies have warned of the next shortage of other substances, such as cytarabine and leunase.

“Several laboratories have warned us that there is a shortage of medicine, so we buy a little more to have it in stock, and on the day that it is not available, we will have it and that is how we have been working since last year when we had the problem with methotrexate, ” she said.

In addition to the shortage, the organizations have faced an increase in drug costs, whose prices generally range between 500 and 800 pesos and that in times of shortage exceed 1,200 pesos.

Due to this, Fundación Aitana has resorted to various schemes and activities to raise resources and continue the purchase of medicines.

The Foundation recently chose to install a stand for the sale of food and water outside the vaccination module of the Jacinto Canek gym, to continue financing the treatment of children with cancer in Quintana Roo.

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