Cancer Control Law IRR Out Soon

The implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11215, otherwise known as the National Integrated Cancer Control Act, will be out soon. This, as the technical working group created to draft the said document has completed its nationwide public consultations.

On Thursday (July 4), the Dept. of Health (DOH) and the Cancer Contol Act technical working group (TWG) gathered government doctors, medical practitioners, civil society organizations, cancer-focused support associations and other stakeholders from six regions in Mindanao at Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City for a consultative meeting on the proposed IRR.

Dr. Napoleon Arevalo, officer-in-charge of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the DOH, said the public consultation in Davao was the final consultative meeting before the TWG shall deliberate and come up with the final IRR draft. Prior to the Davao meeting, the team conducted public consultations for stakeholders in Luzon on June 10 and in Visayas on June 18.

The TWG, Dr. Arevalo added, has conducted a total of 11 consultative meetings, apart from the presentations with the authors of the law in Congress and DOH executives.

“The TWG should be able to come up with the final draft of the Cancer Control Act by last week of July or first week of August, ready for signing,” Dr. Arevalo said.

Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr., assistant secretary for field and implementation and coordination for Visayas and Mindanao, explained that the Republic Act 11215 seeks to implement a national framework to combat cancer.

“The new law shall adopt an integrated, and comprehensive approach to health development which includes strengthening of integrative, multidisciplinary, efficient, and patient-and family-centered cancer control policies, programs, system, interventions and services at all levels existing health care delivery system,” Dumama said.

Citing data from the DOH, Dumama said, “the incidents of cancer was up to eight deaths per day for childhood cancer and up to 11 cases and 7 deaths per hour for adult cancer. This means 110,000 new cancer cases and over 66,000 cancer deaths every year.”

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed RA 11215 on February 14.

It aims “to decrease the overall mortality, morbidity, and impact of all adult and child cancer; lessen the incidence of preventable cancer and treatment-relater morbidities in children and adults; prevent and manage cancer cancer recurrence, metastasis, and secondary cancer among survivors and persons living with cancer;

“Prevent and reduce lost to follow-up and treatment default, which is the patient’s voluntary discontinuance of treatment for more than four weeks; provide timely access to diagnosis, treatment and care for all cancer patients, persons living with cancer, and cancer survivors; make cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and care more equitable, affordable, and accessible for all;

“Improve the experience of cancer treatment and care of patients and their families; and support the recovery and reintegration to society of cancer survivors; and eliminate various forms of burden on patients, persons living with cancer, survivors, and their families.”

Said law also creates the National Integrated Cancer Control Program under the Cancer Control Division of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of DOH.

It also creates a council to act as the policymaking, planning, and coordinating body on cancer control.

The council is composed of the secretaries of health, labor and employment, interior and local government, president and chief executive officer of PhilHealth, and director-general of Food and Drug Administration or their representatives as well as two medical doctors, and three representatives from cancer-focused patient support organizations, one of which shall be a cancer patient, a person living with cancer, or a cancer survivor.

The Cancer Control Act also mandates the establishment of a Philippine Cancer Center, a center of excellence in cancer care, research and development, and capacity development, to be complemented by cancer care centers that include regional cancer centers and specialty cancer centers, cancer treatment units, and outpatient facilities.

Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire, assistant secretary for public service, in a message read by Dr. Arevalo, described the RA 11215 as a “golden opoortunity.”

“With this law, we shall endeavor to extend our reach, especially to the underserved and marginalized sector by scaling up our cancer control program and increasing our investments for the continuum care for cancer patients, persons living with cancer, and cancer survivors,” Dr. Vergeire said. (DED/PIA 12)