Cong Duterte, 2 others pursue P10-B assistance fund for poor cancer patients
A recently filed measure in the 19th Congress seeks to establish a P10-billion fund to finance the treatment and care of indigent cancer patients.
The measure, House Bill (HB) No.7687, was filed by Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Dutere, Benguet lone district Rep. Eric Yap, and ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Edvic Yap. It is titled, "An Act establishing a cancer medicine and treatment assistance fund for indigent and underprivileged Filipinos".
The bill, filed in the House of Representatives last March 20, essentially aims to strengthen the existing cancer assistance fund mandated under Republic Act (RA) No.11215, or the National Integrated Cancer Control Act.
Duterte and the other authors noted that despite the enactment of RA No.11215 and the creation of this assistance fund, cancer patients from low-income households continue to bear the financial burden of their medical care and treatment.
Under the bill, their proposed P10-billion Cancer Medicine and Treatment Fund will be administered by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) through its accredited government hospitals.
“The program shall be limited to indigent and underprivileged cancer patient beneficiaries to be identified by PhilHealth in close coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Health (DOH), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG),” it said.
Following the creation of the fund and the initial appropriation of P10 billion, the national government shall subsequently include the necessary amount necessary to continue and carry out the Fund’s objectives in the annual budget of the DOH, HB No.7687 said.
A study done by the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila’s Institute of Human Genetics found that 189 of every 100,000 Filipinos have cancer. Four Filipinos die of cancer every hour, or 96 cancer patients every day.
Cancer, which affects all age groups, is now the second leading cause of mortality in the country after diseases of the heart and the vascular system, according to the UP study.
In 2020, over 150,000 new cases and 90,000 deaths were recorded.
During the first half of 2021, over 27,000 deaths from cancer were recorded by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). This represented 9 percent of the total deaths during this period.