MANILA, Philippines — Breast cancer has overtaken lung cancer as
the most prevalent form of cancer in the country, the Philippine Society of
Medical Oncology (PSMO) warned Wednesday.
Doctor Felycette Gay Lapus, PSMO
president, also said that the Philippines had the lowest survival rate of
people with breast cancer among 15 Asia countries.
“So, we are number one for breast
cancer in Asia. Three out of 100 (Filipino) women will get breast cancer before
age 75 and one out of 100 will die before reaching 75,” Lapus said at a PSMO
press conference in Edsa Shangri-La hotel in collaboration with pharmaceutical
giant Roche.
The medical community has
designated October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“(Breast cancer accounts) for 15
percent of all new cancer cases (in the Philippines) for both sexes and eight percent
of all cancer deaths. So, you can just imagine the magnitude of the problem,”
Lapus said.
With these distressing
statistics, Lapus emphasized the importance of women checking their breasts for
lumps every month and to have them checked by their physicians annually.
“We can’t stress enough the
importance of early detection in breast cancer management. This is especially
true now when there are options for treatment that weren’t available to
everyone before,” she said.
Lapus said that PhilHealth, under
its “Z Package,” now provides P100,000 for members who are in the early stages
of breast cancer. They also need not go to Manila if they are in far-flung
areas as PhilHealth has designated hospitals across the country where people
with breast cancer can seek treatment.
“The earlier the cancer is
detected, diagnosed, and treated by the team of medical oncologists the better
the success rates. Treatment for early breast cancer, stages 0-3, is very
important in terms of survival,” she said.
Doctor Corazon A. Ngelangel, of
the Philippine General Hospital, said doctors were still trying to find out why
breast cancer had overtaken lung cancer as the most common form of cancer in
the country.
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