Health experts have called for the immediate formation of a council that will implement an important law to protect cancer patients who have become more vulnerable amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is very critical that the National Integrated Cancer Control Act Council has to be organized and has to be convened. Based on the law, the council will act as a policy-making, planning and coordinating body on cancer control attached with DOH (Department of Health). If they were not convened, what is there to fund?” Paul Perez, president of the Cancer Coalition of the Philippines, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, over 100,000 Filipinos may die of tuberculosis (TB) in the next five years if TB services continue to be disrupted because of mobility restrictions brought about by COVID-19, the Health Department warned.
A modelling study by the Imperial College of London projected between 65,100 to 146,300 TB deaths may happen if local TB services remain limited for another year, the DOH said in a statement.
Republic Act No. 11215 or the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA) was signed into law in February 2019, but it remains to be implemented, according to Fatima Lorenzo, President of the Philippine Alliance of Patients Organization.
“The NICCA law was signed on February 14, 2019, and we feel frustrated because of its slow implementation. Let us not give up and channel our energies to positive action,” said Lorenzo.
The NICCA Council was envisioned to provide technical guidance and support and oversee the implementation of the law. It aims to ensure that there is judicious and best use of available resources for the benefit of all, especially the most vulnerable sectors—the elderly, women, poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged. Willie Casas
“Having the law signed is one thing. Having it implemented is another. And, in the era of corona, it is really, really challenging,” Perez said.
Perez said some studies showed that patients with cancer who contracted COVID-19 were 16 times more likely to be in the severe or critical stages.
Since March 2020, disruption in regular TB services from consultation, testing, to treatment due to limited mobility have resulted in a drastic drop in the number of TB cases notified in the country, the DOH said.
By the end of 2020, approximately 268,816 new and relapse TB cases were notified to DOH, a 35-percent decrease from 2019 data.
Case notification is an important activity of the TB Program for finding and treating identified TB patients promptly will help reduce the spread of TB and set the course for its elimination.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) global TB report in 2020, the Philippines has the highest TB incidence rate in Asia, with 554 cases for every 100,000 Filipinos.
