PATIENTS afflicted with cancer as well as cancer survivors are now eligible to get financial assistance from the Department of Health (DOH) under its Cancer Assistance Fund (CAF).
In a statement, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said qualified cancer patients may now seek financial assistance from the government as provided under the National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA).
“As part of our efforts towards realizing Universal Health Care, the CAF was developed and implemented to increase the accessibility of specialty cancer care services to many of our kababayans afflicted with this disease,” said Vergeire.
According to the DOH guidelines, eight priority cancer types are covered by the CAF — breast cancer, childhood cancer, gynecologic cancer, liver cancer, adult blood cancers, head and neck cancers, lung cancer; and prostate, renal, and urinary bladder cancers.
The DOH said the financial assistance can be availed for both outpatient and inpatient services, among them diagnostics, therapeutic procedures; medicines, treatment, and management services; and other care-related components of cancer.
The CAF services may be availed in Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Rizal Medical Center, Philippine General Hospital, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Region I Medical Center, llocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical, Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital, and Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center.
Also available to provide CAF services are Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical, Batangas Medical Center, Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital, Bicol Medical Center, Western Visayas Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional, Western Visayas Center for Health Development, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Eastern Visayas Medical Center, Zamboanga City Medical Center, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Davao Regional Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, and Cotabato Sanitarium.
To avail of the CAF, the health department said patients and/or carers must submit the requirements to identified access sites where the CAF services are available.
Required documents include prescriptions, treatment protocols, and medical abstracts.
“(Applications shall) undergo evaluation prior to approval and availment of services,” said Vergeire.
