September 17, 2013
INDIGENT CANCER PATIENTS TO GET P1BILLION ASSISTANCE FUND UNDER
POE’S BILL
Senator Grace Poe has proposed the creation of a Cancer Assistance
Fund aimed at providing medicine and treatment assistance to indigent and
underprivileged cancer patients.
Poe proposed the measure following report that cancer is the third
leading cause of death in the Philippines, next to communicable and
cardiovascular diseases.
A study conducted by the University of the Philippines’ Institute
of Human Genetics, National Institutes of Health showed that 189 per 100,000
Filipinos are afflicted with cancer, killing four Filipinos every hour or 103
cancer patients every day.
Poe expressed concern at the increasing incidence and mortality
rate of cancer in the country for the past three decades as reported in the UP
study.
“If organized and sustained specialized care and preventive
measures against cancer will not be initiated, the trend will continue and
cancer will continue killing more and more Filipinos,” Poe said.
Poe said the high cost of cancer cure has made it difficult for
people afflicted with the disease, especially the poor and middle-income
patients, to avail of treatments, which has led to the growing number of
fatalities.
She noted the expensive cost of a radiation treatment or the
conduct of a Memory Resonance Imaging (MRI). Chemotherapy costs about P100, 000
per session,
Under proposed Senate Bill 1283 (SB 1283), or “An Act to Assist
Indigent Cancer Patients and their Families”, an annual appropriation of P1
billion is recommended as seed fund for the government’s medicine and treatment
assistance program to cancer victims.
The program seeks to give priority to indigent and underprivileged
cancer patient, who will be identified by the Philippine Health Insurance
Corporation (PhilHealth).
The PhilHealth will be the administrator of the cancer assistance
fund and will be assisted by the Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in
determining indigent beneficiaries of the program.
PhilHealth is also task to consult with the DSWD, DILG and
representatives of hospital associations, medical practitioners and civil
society groups representing the marginalized sector in formulating the rules
and regulation within six months from the date the bill will be enacted into
law. #