This decision comes after the WHO’s first recommendation for affordable use of diabetes medicines in the treatment of obesity.
The Minister of Health admits that medicines for the treatment of obesity can be reimbursed. Ana Paula Martins says that the possibility is being analyzed.
“It must be evaluated by experts and must be within the indications defined by the DGS for situations considered serious, where it is proven that there is such cost-effectiveness”, said the minister, who was speaking to journalists after having been vaccinated against the flu and Covid-19, at a pharmacy in Porto Salvo, in the municipality of Oeiras.
For the first time, the World Health Organization has recommended that a class of diabetes medications can be used in obesity in an affordable way.
Infarmed is analyzing the possibility of reimbursement for certain medications. Data from 2022 show that, in Portugal, more than half of the adult population is overweight or obese.
For the Diabetics Association, treating obesity is a way to prevent diabetes and they have long called for health policies that allow those most in need access to medicines.
Without effective measures, by 2030 the number of people suffering from obesity could double worldwide. Last year, the disease was linked to 3.7 million deaths.
