Five years after the creation of the Ñuble Region, social organizations have assumed a key role, strongly promoting demands that have materialized in decisions and projects that today are examples of decentralization, leaving behind years of postponement in the shadow of Biobío. .
The future cancer center, the Telethon in Ñuble and the defense of the regional sea are some of the causes raised by the inhabitants of the region and which have prospered thanks to joint work with the authorities, who have taken the necessary steps to see the light.
Since before the creation of the region, the movement an Oncologist for Ñuble has already begun to make visible the care needs for cancer patients in the then province, obtaining the approval of the authorities for the current Oncology Unit at the Herminda Martín Hospital , which since 2016 provides chemotherapy treatment on an outpatient basis, allowing it to go from a capacity to administer 12 to 27 of these per day.
But as a result of the greater demand for attention and complexity of the different types of cancer of the users, the idea of having a highly complex cancer center was defended, which would incorporate, in addition to the above, radiotherapy and brachytherapy, a project that leads the Ñuble Health Service with support from the municipality of Chillán and the Regional Government.
Behind this heartfelt request from the community was also the movement “An Oncologist for Ñuble”, which was constantly waving the flag of struggle of people afflicted with the disease that required bringing the specialty closer to the territory.
“The cancer centers are distributed throughout the country and prioritized where there are more inhabitants. Everything was going to Concepción. We did not weigh so much, we had to make a strong management lobby, because if it is by quantity, we will never touch and the costs for transfer are borne by the families of the sick. People from remote communes like San Fabián who have to travel to Concepción is already a formality. This is extremely relevant and the media have helped us to define the relevance of a nearby health center, especially for cancer, which is the leading cause of death”, he stated.
For the local representative, the formation of the Ñuble Region helped channel this request, so now he hopes to gather the necessary support to speed up the realization of the project, which is in the pre-feasibility stage.
“It has been noticed in the prioritization and in the resources to improve health. One notices in the foster homes, which we struggle a lot to have, especially for rural people, with locomotion that is not ideal to get to their place, it affects their access to seek good health. There is a foster home that is about to be installed and that is a good initiative, ”he assessed.
Among the next challenges that the group hopes to lead is the demand for pediatric care, since according to reports, the future cancer center, when it is set up, initially does not contemplate this population.
“We have always fought for everyone to have access, especially children, and there the issue linked to quantity has been presented to us once again. There are 500 children nationwide with cancer, so in the region there are not so many to make a tremendous investment, that is why they are sent to Concepción and other places, but we ask that in the future it be installed, but that the transfers be made in better conditions and that there are shelters in Concepción,” he said.
“The possibility at this time is that the children join, depending on their diagnosis, they can be treated here. Now with telemedicine and technological aspects, many trips could be avoided, but in the future the idea is to have a center that can house them with specialists, because they are different protocols, ”he added.
Fight against aquaculture and first mile
One of the most visible faces at the forefront of the defense of the Ñublensian sea has been Palmira Bastías, representing the Union of Independent Workers of Artisanal Fishing of Cobquecura, who during the first years of the region exerted pressure with the community to prevent the execution of the aquaculture projects that were intended to be installed in the area.
The fear of negative externalities on the environment and tourism led the inhabitants of the commune to exercise strong opposition against the projects, which was ratified by the SEA and later by the project evaluation commission, made up of the former mayor and 10 seremis, which he ended up rejecting.
“That was a tremendous advance, because it was a fight against capitalism, which had not occurred anywhere else and despite all the opposition that existed, like in the south, we achieved it here and that was also thanks to the fact that we were a region , we were heard and that is something very important to me. Because the contamination that they produce is huge,” he said.
In the present, they raised their voices against a resolution of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Aquaculture that authorized -until the year 2028- vessels of more than 12 meters in length to enter the first nautical mile for the capture of common sardines and anchovy . This measure was applied when the Ñuble Region was created, and it was extended for another five years.
Permission that is viewed with bad eyes by local fishermen, since on repeated occasions they have raised their voices for the damage caused by the entry of these vessels, denouncing that they “destroy everything”, in addition to other negative impacts that leave them in disadvantage. That is why they presented a protection appeal, in addition to others by the municipality, to reverse the measure, both managing to be accepted by the Court of Appeals of Valparaíso. However, the undersecretary appealed the decision.
“We find many differences regarding the treatment that the authority makes in this case regarding the issue of drilling the mile with the resolution of 919. It is in the only region where the mile is drilled along the entire coast , because in Biobío you also fish by the mile, but in certain parts they have sheltered in various places in Biobío, but in the case of Ñuble, no. Along all its coasts the mile is drilled and that is where we are now. That is one of the fights that we have already begun to give to be able to reverse that 919, as we also did with the 501 and 502, ”he emphasized.
To achieve this goal, the leader commented that they will continue to promote the necessary actions to protect the first mile for local artisanal fishermen.
“So that at the national level the injustice experienced by the fishermen and the inhabitants of Ñuble is known, because the sea does not belong to the fishermen, it belongs to all the inhabitants of Ñuble. The Undersecretary of Fisheries appealed to the Supreme Court, so that the boats continue to get into the mile. So, according to the law it does not correspond. It cannot be that parliamentarians make a law after so many years of fighting to have an improvement for fishermen who have boats of less than 12 meters in length, if it was an impediment for many years in which I have participated. (…) We are going to resort to all instances until we are respected and the law is enforced ”, he claimed.
More efficient rehabilitation
the future centThe Telethon Center in Chillán, which will be located next to the cancer center on the land of the former School Group, on Avenida Argentina, is a project that was born to satisfy a desire of families from Ñublens who must resort to their children’s therapies in Concepción or other parts of the country.
For Yandira Hernández, president of the Las Acacias School Parents’ Center and mother of a child with a disability, the future execution of this work will not only improve efficiency in rehabilitation, but will also promote inclusion in the region by the reality of disability in the territory be more evident.
Her 7-year-old son Diego has Morsier syndrome, which translates into a visual limitation and a psychomotor deficit. Since he was 7 months old, he has attended therapies in the Biobío Region. The first years were difficult for the parents, because they had to attend check-ups more regularly, which resulted in work permits, absences from home, and transportation costs. For this reason, Yandira had to stop working to attend to her son twice a week for the first few years and twice a month at present.
“For me it has been complicated, because at that time my other son was 6 years old and he needed all the support at school to learn to read. It was a super complex stage, and we were also complicated with resources, ”he admitted.
For this mother, the arrival of Teletón is positive for a more efficient processing of technical aids and faster access to specialists.
“It is ideal, because they must have constant therapy so that they can make progress, otherwise one cannot squeeze out all the potential that they can give despite their condition. Because up to 3 years old they are like a sponge. But when you can’t travel every day or be from Concepción, we lose that possibility of reaching achievements up to that age. Also, if one is more involved in therapy, one learns faster, more opportunities open up to help our children, ”she commented.
