"Will millions of cancer stakeholders be again disappointed?"
"Will millions of cancer stakeholders be again disappointed?"
“Stay safe and healthy!” has become the new customary closing in every personal and business correspondence we send every day. This seemingly small gesture of courtesy and sincerity reflects how this global pandemic from Wuhan is changing our very culture and behavior. For every Filipino, or any inhabitant of this planet for that matter, staying healthy has become a conscious comportment that we must always strictly observe.
Since 2012, national surveys conducted by Pulse Asia on “Urgent Personal and National Concerns of Filipinos” have consistently ranked health and avoiding illness as the most “urgent personal concern.” An unexpected diagnosis or a debilitating injury from an accident can plunge the most vulnerable and even the rising middle class into financial ruin that will have long term consequences that extend to immediate or even extended family.
This national concern is confirmed by data in the Philippine National Health Accounts released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in October 2019 which revealed household health expenditures were about twice that of government. It was reported that 2018 out-of-pocket expenses (OOP) increased by 10.5 percent to P449.171 billion or 58.6 percent of total health expenditures. The report said that the country’s Total Health Expenditures at current prices grew by 8.3 percent in 2018 amounting to P 799.1 billion from P 737.8 billion in 2017.
The disruptive effects of the ongoing crisis have exposed the weakness of our public health system. With the upcoming State of the Nation Address and the resumption of Congress next week, there should be no doubt for our policy leaders and most especially our legislators on the importance of ensuring the adequate appropriations for the fast implementation of the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Law and the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA), two landmark health legislations that the President signed into law which directly addresses these decades old problems.
In the online joint Congressional oversight committee on the UHC Law held last month, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Mario Villaverde presented their P182-billion proposed budget that will be “generally aligned” to the implementation of the law. UHC implementation-related programs will be allocated P53.20 billion while P20.89 billion will be for the Health System Resilience for Emerging Infectious Diseases or Pandemic-related Proposals. P35.11 billion was proposed for a cluster of health laws such as the NICCA, first 1,000 days, HIV/AIDS, the notifiable disease act, among others. Other urgent health needs such as tuberculosis and rabies control programs were allocated P37.83 billion.
Good for the UHC law but what about the Cancer Law which earned international recognition and passed even ahead of the UHC because of the virtually unanimous support of both Houses of Congress? To the dismay of millions of cancer stakeholders, the DOH proposal for a specific line item was not approved last year. Crucial to the implementation of the cancer law is the National Integrated Cancer Control Council, mandated to lead policy formulation and programming, which has yet to convene pending the final approval of the candidates by the President, and the creation of the Cancer Assistance Fund to complement the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act.
Next only to cardiovascular disease, cancer has become the third leading cause of death in the country since 2004. Data from the Department of Health’s (DOH) Philippine Cancer Facts and Estimates even reveals an alarming increase in cancer incidence of up to 11 new cases and 7 deaths every hour for adult cancers and 11 new cases and 8 deaths per day for childhood cancer. This translates to some 110,000 new cancer cases and over 66,000 cancer deaths every year, excluding the unreported cases.
To quote the DOH press statement on the signing of NICCA IRR, “The NICCA emphasizes cancer prevention and improvement of cancer survivorship by strengthening essential programs and increasing investments for the entire cancer care continuum. It aims to make cancer services and care more accessible to all Filipinos.”
“By institutionalizing interdisciplinary care with a whole-of-government, equity-based, and life-course approach, access to quality and affordable care for cancer patients and survivors will be attained” said DOH.
As of this writing, the DOH-proposed budget for cancer has not been approved by the Department of Budget and Management. A law no matter how beautifully crafted with its potential benefit to society will be nothing but a useless exercise in futility; which in the case of the UHC Law and the NICCA was the result of years of circuitous and passionate advocacy work of its stakeholders to solve what is in reality, deadly faults in the Philippine health system.
Will millions of cancer stakeholders be again disappointed, or will the government finally institutionalize funding to implement these laws?
As their constituents, let’s send a strong message to our congressmen to ensure the adequate appropriation of these health laws.