Cancer: The Deadly Gap: From Public to Private System, Time Is Running Out

Inequality in access to cancer treatment in Argentina is not a myth: it is a reality that claims lives. Research reveals that time and access to studies vary drastically depending on medical coverage. While patients with private insurance receive cutting-edge therapies, those in the public system face delays that can be fatal.

A study from the Hospital Centro de Salud Zenón J. Santillán in Tucumán followed patients with advanced lung cancer. The result is chilling: eight out of ten lost the opportunity to receive the most appropriate targeted treatment for their tumor. The process of molecular testing and treatment management took a median of 52.5 days, enough time for the disease to progress unchecked. Half of the patients had to start emergency chemotherapy, while three out of ten died before receiving first-line treatment.

Dr. Juan José Zarba, head of Oncology at the hospital, explains that the bottleneck begins before seeing the oncologist. «In lung cancer, you first need to get an appointment with a pulmonologist, undergo fiberoptic bronchoscopy, CT scan… that alone can take two months. Then comes molecular diagnosis, authorization, and medication. Often the disease doesn’t wait,» he denounces.

The situation is not isolated. The Argentine Association of Clinical Oncology (AAOC) surveyed 390 oncologists nationwide. The numbers are devastating: 68.7% of patients with private insurance receive complete treatment from the start. In the public system, only 9.9%. For immunotherapies, 89% of private patients regularly have access; in the public system, only 36.1%, and 10.8% never gain access.

The survey by the Fundación Donde Quiero Estar, which followed 153 patients in Buenos Aires City, Tierra del Fuego, and Misiones, found that breast cancer patients waited 125 days from the first consultation to the start of therapy. Complications vary by province: 55% of patients in Buenos Aires province reported problems obtaining medication, compared to 26% in Misiones.

At the Hospital San Bernardo in Salta, a study of 78 cancer patients during 2024 showed that one in two started therapy after the recommended four weeks. In 94.7% of cases, the delay was due to lack of medication. Monoclonal antibodies were the hardest to obtain: only four out of ten patients received them, with an average delay of 8.8 weeks.

Meanwhile, the National Ministry of Health reports that cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among those aged 5 to 59, although mortality has shown a downward trend between 2015 and 2024. But for those dependent on the public system, hope fades amid paperwork and lack of resources.

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