ALL types of cancer — the cause of death of four Filipinos everyday — are preventable and treatable because of medical advances, according to two experts at the Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City.
Dr. Marigold Ferrolino, RMC head of oncology department, and Dr. Antonio Alonzo, radiation oncologist, said modern medicines and equipment for free treatment of cancer are available locally through the Department of Health (DOH).
The DOH has a budget of P1 billion but the amount can handle and potentially save only 200 individuals to complete the 18-month treatment cycle, said Dr. Marvin Mendoza, head of the cancer center at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute.
“We can beat cancer. We can save lives. We can do more if the budget is increased by Congress,” Mendoza said at a recent NKTI event.
In other words, he said, the bigger the budget for treatment, the fewer deaths there will be.
The most common types of cancer are that of breast, lung and colorectum. Breast cancer alone afflicts 21,000 women each year, Ferrolino said in a recent TV interview.
Latest data shows around 9,000 women die of breast cancer each year in the Philippines, and most deaths are preventable if there are more funds to treat especially poor patients.
Ferrolino said it is now easy to detect breast cancer, with the use of machine (mammography) or an expert touch of the breast, so there is a “high incidence of detection.”
“Early detection leads to early prevention,” she added.
For treatment, Ferrolino said, a doctor may prescribe injection/oral chemotherapy or radiation targeting the tumor/cancerous tissues.
The beauty of the modern drug is that it does not cause falling hair or balding, Ferrolino said.
Alonzo said RMC uses high-tech equipment like laser accurate X-rays which have “minimal effects on patients.”
These are high-energy X-rays — the gold standard of modern machines — close to an AI (artificial intelligence) or robots to treat cancer patients, Alonzo said.
The cost of radiation treatment, Alonzo said, is “minimal” at RMC although it ranges from P300,000 to P450,000 in private hospitals.
