According to La Tercera, 218,585 people were waiting for an endoscopy in the public system as of March 31, 2026, with a median wait of 589 days, or one year and seven months. Another 94,878 were waiting for a colonoscopy, with a median of 658 days.
The figures come from the waiting list report for the first quarter of 2026, which the Ministerio de Salud (Minsal, Chile's Ministry of Health) submitted to the Congreso (Chile's national legislature) as required by law. Health authorities also requested analysis from the Senado's (Senate's) Oficina de Información, Análisis y Asesoría Presupuestaria (OPS, its budget information and advisory office).
The median marks the midpoint: half of the patients have been waiting longer than that period and the other half, less. Until now, the best-known lists were those for surgeries and specialist consultations. Less public information was available on diagnostic tests.
Both procedures are key to detecting gastric and colorectal cancer, two of the most common cancers in Chile. An endoscopy examines the inside of the body with an optical instrument. A colonoscopy allows doctors to see the entire large intestine (colon) and the rectum using a long tube.
The waits also extend to other tests. There are 106,780 patients waiting for a computed axial tomography (CT) scan, which uses X-rays and a computer to create detailed images of the body, with a median of 439 days. For an MRI, 65,769 people are waiting, with a median of 481 days.
In diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine and radiotherapy procedures, 7,641 patients are waiting, with a median of 382 days. In every group reported, the median exceeds one year.
Luis Castillo, former Subsecretario de Redes Asistenciales (Undersecretary of Healthcare Networks) under the government of Sebastián Piñera and dean of Health Sciences at Universidad Autónoma, described the figures as worrying. He warned that with waits this long, diagnosis will come when the disease has already spread. He argued that public-private collaboration would help confirm diagnoses and provide treatment earlier.
The Subsecretaría de Redes Asistenciales (Undersecretariat of Healthcare Networks) told La Tercera that its focus is to progressively reduce waiting times to reasonable levels. It attributed the lists to growing demand and to gaps in staff, equipment and diagnostic capacity.
As a response, on August 25 the Minsal presented the Estrategia Nacional de Pesquisa Universal de Cáncer (National Universal Cancer Screening Strategy). It involves applying two simpler preliminary tests to prioritize who gets access to the complex procedures. For now it operates in 28 comunas (municipalities), and the plan is to add more. The source does not specify which comunas these are or what the preliminary tests are.
Alejandro Berkovits, head of the Minsal's Cancer Department, explained the reasoning at the time: "If we have few slots for endoscopies and colonoscopies, we have to use them for those who may really have cancer".
Pablo Eguiguren, director of Public Policy at the think tank Libertad y Desarrollo, said these lists should be measured and made public on a regular basis. In his view, the budget debate now getting underway is the place to do so and to create mechanisms for public-private collaboration.