The Dominican Government, through the Directorate of High-Cost Medicines (DAMAC) of the Ministry of Public Health, guarantees the timely provision of high-cost drugs to patients with rheumatic diseases, which total more than 16,530 beneficiaries, with an investment of DR 8 billion.
Speaking at an activity held for Rheumatic Disease Month and World Rheumatoid Arthritis Day, organized by the Un Paso de Fe Foundation, the director of DAMAC, Dr. Karen Cepeda, expressed her satisfaction with the support given by President Luis Abinader, through the Ministry of Public Health, to patients with this disease.
She pointed out that they have improved processes to facilitate more medicines to the beneficiaries, among them, the reduction by 33% of the documents required to apply for renewal and entry to the High Cost Medicines Program.
After thanking the president of the Fundación un Paso de Fe and Biored Dominicana, Teresa Mártez, for the invitation, Dr. Cepeda indicated that they have also improved communication with the Program, with the creation of a means of information through a virtual assistant via WhatsApp (809-988-9978) and through the portal of the Ministry of Public Health.
“We managed to digitalize the operability, which brings as a result improvements in management statistics, such as age, sex, pathology, geographic location, medications, dosage, specialized health care centers (CEAS), where each patient attends, among others,” he added.
She pointed out that they also have a Social Work team that gives talks at the CEASs on the care of patients with high-cost diseases and how to deal with their condition on a psychological level.
Dr. Cepeda had an exchange with patients about concerns and changes made at the DAMAC, including empathy and improvement in the quality of service, and welcomed the presence at the activity of the vice-president of the Dominican Society of Rheumatology, Dr. Ricardo Vásquez Colón; the director of Promese/Cal, Engineer Adolfo Pérez de León, and the director of the Single System of Beneficiaries (SIUBEN), Jefrey Lizardo.
In addition to the organizers of the activity, several patients expressed their gratitude to Dr. Cepeda for the work done at the DAMAC and the accompaniment as a special guest at the event, in which the internist and rheumatologist, Dr. Ivonne Canto, spoke about the Remission of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and how to get there.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
