IN the fight against illnesses, government is often engrossed in handling communicable diseases, those that spread quickly and in a wide geographical area. The most recent example is COVID-19, an epidemic that started in China and spread throughout the globe, killing millions of people.
With the pandemic over, the government under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. can now turn its sight on non-communicable diseases such as cancers, diabetes, and cardiovascular and chronic lung illnesses. These are conditions that are not mainly caused by an acute infection, result in long-term health consequences, and often create a need for lengthy treatment and care.
Plucking from this list, we take cancer as a common example of this group of diseases, it being the third leading cause of death in the country, with lung cancer ranking No. 1 in mortality. Also in this league are liver, breast, colon and prostate cancer, in that order.
The Department of Health is not totally weaponless in its fight against the disease. It has a law — Republic Act 11215 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019, also called the National Integrated Cancer Control Act — which aims to increase cancer survivorship and reduce the burden on cancer patients and their families.
‘In trying to attain this dream, the President needs all our support.’
The law provides for a cancer assistance fund which is allocated to some 25 hospitals to provide financial help to patients for their screening, diagnosis, specialized treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative and supportive care to survivorship and cancer medicines.
Patients should enroll in the government’s charity programs to be able to avail themselves of this assistance.
For those who can afford it, there is a piece of good news about cancer treatment that is available locally.
President Marcos inaugurated last week the Healthway Cancer Care Hospital (HCCH), the country’s first-ever facility dedicated to cancer care.
In his speech during the launch of the hospital in Taguig City, the President noted that cancer remains one of the most dreaded illnesses in the Philippines.
“With facilities such as this, we will allow the main weapon that we have in combating cancer — detection, giving patients the best chance in fighting this disease,” Marcos said.
HCCH is the first comprehensive cancer specialty hospital in the country where end-to-end oncology services can be accessed in one facility. Among these services are radiation oncology, surgery, chemotherapy and palliative care.
“The opening of the HCCH will go a long way in improving access to quality cancer care for many Filipinos. Moreover, this endeavor highlights our strong partnership with the private sector in strengthening our health care system, which is aligned with the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan and the Integrated Cancer Program,” Marcos said.
The President took the opportunity to remind the public what the government is doing to fight cancer. He said the country has 25 specialty centers and cancer care in select hospitals run by the Department of Health. He said the PhilHealth Konsulta Primary Care Team is also available to provide free diagnostic examinations and laboratory tests.
He said the government has also established the Cancer Assistance Fund, which will pay for the cost of cancer diagnostics and laboratories not covered by PhilHealth, considering the “great financial burdens to cancer treatments.”
The President’s dream is to revolutionize cancer care service industry in the country through state-of-the-art equipment coupled with leading medical professionals and oncologists. He hopes that in the future, the country can be a leading healthcare destination in Asia.
In trying to attain this dream, the President needs all our support.
