Philippine Senate Committee on Health
Public
Hearing on SBN 1873
10am, Tuesday, 20 May
2014
I
am registering my strongest objection to Senate Bill No. 1873 authored by Sen.
Trillanes, as well as SBN 2114 authored by Sen. Santiago and SBN 354 authored
by Sen. Legarda.
Our
country has had the highest increase in breast cancer incidence rate worldwide
for the past 30 years, where today, is the highest in Asia and 11th
highest worldwide. One in every 13 women will get breast cancer which is a
serious and urgent public health epidemic that has never been fully addressed
by government. To even aggravate matters, SBN 1873 and SBN 354 will further
worsen the situation by opening the floodgates, leading thousands of innocent victims
to the medical-pharmaceutical slaughterhouse of slash, poison and burn.
According to the US Department of Defense
Breast Cancer Research Program, an estimated 30% of all breast cancer cases
(both invasive and DCIS) are considered to be over diagnosed and over treated. Over
diagnosis is diagnosis of cancers that would not have presented within the life
of the patient. Overtreatment can occur in two ways—either in over diagnosis,
where any treatment is unnecessary, or with the administration of more aggressive therapies than is necessary.
It has recently been estimated that one to three deaths from overtreatment
occur for every one breast cancer death avoided.
Despite
the PBCN’s concerns submitted during Public Hearings to both Houses of Congress
since 2010, government has not taken any concrete action to curtail the most
common form of cancer that has caused tremendous misery, sufferings and untimely
deaths to thousands of women –young or old, rich or poor, learned or unlearned,
with or without child, Christian or Muslim, urban or rural. Instead, the
Department of Health and PhilHealth have even embarked on programs that have
even worsened the breast cancer crisis.
In
May 2011, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Cancer Society
launched a medicine access program through a patient navigation scheme
targeting indigent women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. Health
Secretary Ona said that cancer is a costly disease, with the cost of medicines
and treatment way out of reach for many of our people. The scheme would provide
medicine entitlements to poor and vulnerable sectors for priority disease such
as cancer. Has the Senate ever looked into the progress or failure of this
program?
In
July 2012, Philhealth launched the Z Benefit Package, providing for P100,000
for the entire treatment for early breast cancer. But in reality, PhilHealth
members prefer going to private hospitals rather than any government hospital.
Majority of patients in government
hospitals seek free medical treatment but are not PhilHealth members. Has the
Senate ever reviewed the progress or failure of this program?
Participating
in above-mentioned breast cancer treatment programs were the East Avenue
Medical Center (EAMC), the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRMMC), the
Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and the Rizal Medical Center. PhilHealth also
includes contracted government hospitals in each region. Has the Senate ever made
an investigation on the success or failure rates of all these hospitals in
their respective treatment of breast cancer?
Without
knowing and validating diagnostic and treatment success or failure rates, this
August Body is now intending to fund another “white elephant” in supposedly
addressing a known environmental disease? Despite the fact that Philhealth has
a gigantic reserve fund of Php117 Billion to fund the Z Benefit Package, why
does SBN 1873 want to allocate additional funds? Is this another Napoles scam in the making in
the guise of addressing a public health crisis by exploiting breast cancer? Or
is this another diversion of funds for the coming presidential elections,
similar to when PhilHealth spent a large amount for TV Ads for the former PGMA
in the 2004 elections?
Going
back to PhilHealth’s Z Benefit Package for breast cancer:
1.
How
are patients diagnosed with breast cancer? By mammograms? Is the Senate
Committee on Health aware that mammography is now under extreme doubt as to
whether it is truly reliable and whether mammography has significantly saved
lives? Very recent studies, most notable of which was the 25 Year Canadian
Study which concluded that annual mammography in women aged 40-59 does not reduce mortality from breast cancer and 22%
of screen detected invasive breast cancers were over-diagnosed. In a 10 year German study, it showed that
mammography did more harm and had negligible benefits. The Swiss Medical Board acknowledged that there
was no evidence to suggest that overall mortality was affected while
emphasizing the harm of mammography — in
particular, false positive test results and the risk of over diagnosis.
2.
What
is PhilHealth’s definition of Early Stage Breast Cancer because in its selection
criteria were stated Stage 0 up to– Stage 3A?
It seems PhilHealth does not even know what early stage breast cancer
is.
3.
What
are the safeguards against over diagnosis and over treatment? Many cases are of the DCIS type (Ductal
Carcinoma In Situ) which is non-invasive and when
left untreated, will in many cases not develop into a life-threatening disease.
4. Why are only
specific chemo drugs included in the list? Is it because they are the most
effective, the cheapest or the only ones available? Worst of all is if these particular
drugs are in need of human experiment or about to be phased out! For example, Avastin was approved by the
USFDA for metastatic breast cancer in 2004 only to be revoked in 2011because there was no evidence that it extended
life or improved quality of life while causing severe adverse reactions.
5.
What
would be the standard treatment since medical institutions vary in their respective approaches to breast cancer? For
the same breast cancer patient, opinions vary between surgeons and oncologists
and between surgeons themselves and oncologists themselves.
So why then will
all the above mentioned Senate Bills be enacted and funded when it is very
clear that more harm than good will happen? It is imperative that our Senators
conduct a deeper inquiry on WHY our country has a breast cancer epidemic and
what must be legislated to truly address this public health crisis – not by
seeking a cure but focusing on the environmental causes of breast cancer.
Presently
severely tarnished by the pork barrel, the Senate can possibly redeem itself by enacting laws to protect all women
from the scourge of breast cancer, a few of which are the following which will not
cost a centavo:
1.
STOP mandatory annual chest
x-rays for all government employees and make it optional for companies and
schools during pre-employment and pre-enrollment. This alone will drastically
reduce breast cancer because all women regardless of health status are being
unnecessary exposed regularly to at least 1,000 millirads of radiation.
2. STOP the use of hormonal contraceptives in its
population control program because breast cancer is a hormonal disease. Women
will not be placed at risk of breast cancer when the use of other methods such
as condoms and rhythm method are encouraged instead.
3. STOP operations of air-water-soil
contaminating industries regardless of environmental clearances - specially
identified mining operations that continue to spill cyanide and mercury in the
waterways of our country.
4.
STOP
the use of triclosan and parabens in all productions of various cosmetics and bath soaps/shampoos
among other common consumer products. A Safety Chemical Act needs to be
legislated to keep our people healthy and not be at risk of developing cancer from these identified
carcinogenic substances.
Danny Meneses
President
Philippine Breast Cancer Network
SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION now to junk all pending Senate Bills on Breast Cancer. We can no longer be silent!
