AN advocacy group for breast cancer patients yesterday asked government to help establish courtesy lanes for cancer patients in government offices and healthcare facilities to speed up provision of financial assistance and treatment.
“We hope that their time to queue will be cut short. If there will be a courtesy lane or separate lane for them, the processing time for their financial assistance will be shorter,” said Aileen Antolin, vice president of the Philippine Foundation for Breast Care Inc. (Kasuso), in a media forum in Manila.
Antolin said a courtesy lane in government agencies such as the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and in healthcare facilities is doable if there will be a centralized system.
“It is important to have a centralized information so that the records will be readily available and easily transmitted,” she said.
Antolin also said there is a need to amend protocols on who can use the courtesy lanes.
“If the patient is regularly seeking assistance, since they will need 18 cycles of medicines, there shouldn’t be a need anymore for the same documents,” she said.
Antolin said many patients, especially indigent ones, have to spend the whole day just to be able to secure financial aid from the local government unit, PCSO, or DSWD.
Cancer patients, she also said, have to spend several hours in hospitals just to be able to get treatment.
Data from the Department of Health shows that 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos are affected by cancer, and about four Filipinos succumb to cancer every hour or some 96 cancer patients every day.
