The Department of Health (DOH) has asserted it fully implemented the Cancer Assistance Fund (CAF) as provided for by law and pertinent regulations.
In a statement issued on Monday, the DOH said implementation of the CAF covered outpatient and inpatient services, including diagnostics, therapeutic procedures, medicines, treatment and management services, as well as other care-related components of cancer.
The CAF was designed to complement existing financial support mechanisms in public and private facilities.
The eight identified priority cancer types eligible to be financed by the CAF included breast cancer, childhood cancer, gynecologic cancer, liver cancer, adult blood cancers, head and neck cancers, lung cancer, and prostate, renal, and urinary bladder cancers.
To avail of the CAF, patients and/or carers must submit the requirements to identified access sites where CAF services are made available.
Required documents including prescriptions, treatment protocols, and medical abstracts will irst undergo evaluation prior to approval and availment of services.
“As part of our efforts towards realizing Universal Health Care, the CAF was developed and implemented to increase the accessibility of specialty cancer care services to many of our kababayans afflicted with this disease,” DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said;.
“To our patients, you must always remember that the Department of Health is always ready to provide help and health services to every citizen affected by this disease, in any corner of our country,” she added.