Cancer patients on Tuesday hit the Department of Health for removing its cancer fund line item as mandated by the National Integrated Cancer Control Act in next year’s budget.
Carmen Auste, Cancer Coalition of the Philippines vice president, questioned the DOH’s failure to include the line item on NICCA and the cancer assistance fund in the agency’s 2022 budget proposal.
“This is a direct violation of the provisions under NICCA,” the coalition said in its position paper.
“The consolidation of the cancer control budget in the NCD (non-communicable diseases) budget for the proposed 2022 National Expenditure Program of the DOH makes a travesty of the NICCA mandate and its explicit intent,” it added.
Auste said the absence of a separate budget for the cancer assistance fund is alarming and life-threatening to cancer patients.
She cited the struggles of cancer patients amid the diminished assistance from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Malasakit centers and various non-government charitable organizations.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer patients have suffered disruptions and long delays in access to life-saving medical care and services that lead to the progression of their diseases, substantive increases in the diagnosis of advanced cancers, unnecessary complications, disabilities and even premature deaths, Auste said.
Cancer was the second leading cause of death in the country from January to December 2020 with over 62,300 deaths.
“We call on our legislators in both Houses of Congress to support this urgent appeal and deliver the promise of NICCA for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of Filipino cancer patients and their families,” she said.