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Parliamentary Group

DRAFT RESOLUTION NO. 24 /X

Recommends to the Government the recognition of Psoriasis as disease

chronicle

Living with a chronic disease has a considerable impact on the quality of life of the

individual and his / her relatives, conditioning, inclusive, the exercise of their citizenship

active. Citizens carriers of chronic diseases encounter problems

multi-dimensional, be they of physical, family, economic, labour, educational,

emotional, social, which translate into their isolation and their fragilization.

In that sense, Portuguese legislation has sought, still that a rather

fragmented, introduce measures of positive discrimination that can compensate for the

disadvantaged situation in which the chronically ill are found.

In the area of health there are differential regimens for chronic patients,

in particular with respect to the application of moderating rates and the comparticipation

of medications. These schemes promote unwarranted discrimination between diseases

chronicles, excluding from its scope some incurable pathologies that if

translating into the notorious deterioration of the living conditions of citizens.

The present Draft Resolution aims to correct such discrimination in what concerne to the

holders of Psoriasis.

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Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease, the origin of which is not fully clarified,

not contagious, which can arise at any age and which affects 1 a to 3% of the population.

In Portugal, it is estimated that about 250 thousand people suffer from Psoriasis.

This disease is characterized by a wide variation in the severity and distribution of the

skin lesions that are characteristic to you, usually red, thick and

descams, which preferentially affect elbows, knees, lumbar region and

scalp leather, but can reach large surfaces of the body.

These cutaneous, perfectly identifiable and highly stigmatizing manifestations,

contribute to the increase in psychological effects, since among the patients with

Psoriasis are usual cases of depression, despair, sadness, anguish and stress, which,

in turn, aggravate his physical condition.

About 10% of the patients with Psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis, which it has

symptoms very similar to those of rheumatoid arthritis and cause, often, situations

notoriously invalidating. On the other hand, more than a quarter of the carriers of

Psoriasis has other associated diseases, such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension, the

which often results in the understanding that we are not facing a single

disease but rather in the face of various diseases in one.

The quality of life of patients depends on the correct treatment of the disease, however,

the sum spent on the purchase of medicines, from creams, lotions and champosed to the

treatment of Psoriasis is quite considerable, being importable to many of the

patients and their families.

In fact, the antipsoriatic drugs of topical application and systemic action do not

are framed in the A-level of comparticipation, contrary to what happens to

medications intended for the treatment of other chronic diseases.

Psoriasis-carrying citizens must have access to the schemes applied to the

carriers of other chronic diseases. It is unacceptable to perpetuate the deep

discrimination to which they are subject to these citizens, under the risk of contributing to the

deterioration of its quality of life, alongside the increase in the expenditure of the public purse

consequent to the agudization of its pathology and its living conditions.

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Thus, in the regimental and constitutional terms, the Assembly of the Republic,

meeting in plenary, resolves to recommend to the Government that:

-Recognize the Psoriasis while chronic disease, in the sense of viabilizing the application to the

bearers of this pathology of the regimes for the chronic patients,

notably in the case of the comparticipation of the medicines and the exemption of the

payment of moderating fees.

Palace of Saint Benedict, November 26, 2009

The Deputies and Deputies of the Left Bloc,