Published April 7, 2021, 5:09 PM
Health experts have urged the immediate formation of the cancer council to implement a law to protect cancer patients.
“It is very critical that the National Integrated Cancer Control Act Council has to be organized and 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 are not convened, what is there to fund?” Paul Perez, president of the Cancer Coalition of the Philippines, 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 unimplemented, according to Fatima Lorenzo, president of the Philippine Alliance of Patients Organization.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic has severely affected the global economy and overwhelmed health systems in many countries. In the Philippines, it exposed several gaps on both public health infrastructures and national health policies. It has also highlighted the country’s fragmented governance and the lack of healthcare facilities and human resources for health that led to the slow-phased responses to the pandemic.
Last year, Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III mentioned that “battling the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded much from our health system and not only revealed its faults but emphasized an urgent need to transform and heal the system as a whole. The Universal Health Care (UHC) Law was crafted to address this very gap that has plagued our system for many years. Hence, it is a critical moment to seize, to fast track the transition to universal healthcare.”