Kljajević: Oncology patients do not have time for rule changes

The competent Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography is telling oncology patients who are fighting for their lives that the state has already written them off.

This was assessed by Democratic People's Party (DNP) MP Jelena Kljajević, referring to Minister Damir Gutić's response to her parliamentary question on why the majority of oncology patients are not recognized through the new regulations regarding material donations.

Kljajević also emphasized that these patients waited almost a year for the commission's decision, and that they were ultimately rejected because the disease was not in the final stage, as the new regulations stipulate.

Gutić responded that certain flaws in the new regulations, which were worked on by representatives of his department, the Ministry of Health, 10 specialist doctors, the civil sector, etc., have been identified.

"The problem you are pointing out is that they are carried out exclusively in accordance with medical indications. It will be resolved in the coming period, when a unified disability assessment begins in accordance with the human rights model. Then not only the damage to the body will be taken into account, but also the functional status - the support that is needed for the inclusion of people with disabilities in the community. Then the focus will be on inclusion in community life, and not just on the diagnosis...

"We are trying to improve the system, but this also requires coordination with the financial resources that are available," he said, announcing that the disputed rulebook will be changed, and that the working group will begin making changes in July.

Kljajević assessed that Gutić admitted in his response that a large number of oncology patients, who undergo surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation..., remain outside the material support system.

"I asked you if it is fair and humane, because according to the current regulations, oncology patients only have rights when the disease becomes inoperable. Only when the battle is almost lost. We supported a unified disability assessment, but we did not hope to bring citizens into this problem. Why is the regulation not being changed immediately? Patients have waited a year, so this regulation is being applied retroactively to them. Who will compensate the patients," she asked, emphasizing that this provision is "only enough for a box of supplements that help them get through difficult and toxic therapies."

"Why are we telling these patients who are fighting for their lives that this state has abandoned them. They don't have time," said Kljajević.

Gutić responded that his department "sympathizes with oncology patients and does not believe that anyone can take better care of them than we do."

"I emphasize that the possibilities are not unlimited. We are doing everything within our competence, but we cannot do everything in a day," he concluded.

"Vijesti" announced in mid-May that after several months of stagnation in the work of social and medical commissions, oncology patients began to receive decisions stating that they had been rejected for state assistance.

The decisions justify this position with the new Rulebook on detailed conditions for the realization of basic material benefits from social and child protection and medical indications for the realization of the right to material security, care and assistance allowances, personal disability allowance and compensation for half-time work.

Non-governmental organizations that represent the rights of the most seriously ill patients, as well as children with autism, warn that the problem is not solely in the individual assessment of the commission, but in the Rulebook, which, they say, "systematically eliminated the most vulnerable categories of patients."

Gutić's department did not respond to the part of the editorial team's question that related to oncology patients.