The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, released the following statement for the World Rare Disease Day:
"The right to health, guaranteed by the Constitution, entails the duty to make medical care effective also to those who suffer from low prevalence diseases.
Patients with rare diseases face unusual challenges in getting diagnosed and in accessing treatments, due to the lack of attention and investments for those diseases not being detected by the major health research. The health system shall nonethelessguarantee assistance and therefore overcome these limits.
The approval of Law No 175, setting forth "Provisions for the treatment of rare diseases and for the support of research and production of orphan drugs", has represented a step forward in the protection of the right to health for these patients. They can now count on a strong institutional support, aimed at enhancing healthcareover the entire national territory.
This commitment shall now result in concrete results so that rare diseases can be fully recognised, and no citizen is denied the right to health."
