2024-05-05 10:07:05
The minister, “using inappropriate terms such as “mutilation”, referring to radical mastectomy, generates misinformation and, most seriously, can distance frightened women from the possibility of being treated in a timely manner,” says the ACM.
DIARIO DEL HUILA, HEALTH
During his speech at the Ideological Forum, organized by the political organization En Marcha!, the Minister of Health, Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo, made a series of statements that generated strong rejection in the health sector. According to the head of this portfolio, some of the treatments used to treat breast cancer, such as mastectomy, are “destructive.” “How do women look after a mastectomy?” Jaramillo asked.
It refers to a surgery that, in most cases, is done to treat breast cancer, the cancer that most affects women in Colombia and the world.
“The business is in those hospitals that I showed you. Radiation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgeries, the whole breast, radical surgery, lymph node cleaning, which is destructive. “How do women look after a mastectomy?” said Jaramillo.
The Colombian Association of Mastology (ACM) spoke on the matter through a statement. “We consider it necessary to speak out due to the repeated statements by the Minister of Health, regarding his personal opinion on the existing surgical treatments, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in the management of breast cancer, because, using inappropriate terms such as “mutilation”, referring to to radical mastectomy, generates misinformation and, most seriously, can distance frightened women from the possibility of being treated in a timely manner.
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Through a statement, the ACM assured that it does not make decisions to affect the well-being or integrity of women: “We fully comply with international guidelines based on management evidence, fully endorsed and supervised by our national regulatory bodies. The technical and technological advances of recent years allow favorable oncological and aesthetic results. Not applying them or ignoring them would bring an imminent risk to the lives of the patients.”
For the entity, “therapeutic decisions such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgeries have currently made it possible to reduce morbidity and mortality from breast cancer. The decision of which of them is implemented in each patient is conditioned by multiple factors, such as the stage at diagnosis, the histological characteristics of the tumors and the risk group of our patients. Always, within a personalized medicine approach.”
The ACM makes it clear that “in cases in which, to preserve the life of our patients, a surgery such as a mastectomy is indicated, our surgeons have the appropriate training to perform the necessary reconstructive surgeries (considered and authorized by our current health system). ) to guarantee quality of life with the best possible aesthetic results. Fortunately, we have highly complex clinics and hospitals, without which we would not be able to offer these results.
“How do patients look after a mastectomy? We answer: They remain alive, with a greater life expectancy, which gives them hope and the possibility of continuing to contribute their valuable presence to their families and society.
The union requests, through its statement, that all the brave women and families who are fighting battle today and hope to share victory be respected, valued and shown empathy because they feel supported by their doctors, who offer them the best tools available. ”.
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