Only the other day, the Philippines joined other countries in marking World Cancer Day, the one singular initiative under which the entire earth can unite together in the fight against the global cancer epidemic.
We join the world in this initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control, and raise our voice, its echoes resonating from Tawi Tawi to Batanes, high in the hope we can contribute to worldwide awareness, improve education and catalyze personal, collective and government action, work together to re-imagine a world where millions of preventable cancer deaths are saved and access to life-saving cancer treatment and care is equal for all.
Cancer figures, as far as latest available statistics would suggest, among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with about 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths.
With the coronavirus pandemic, cancer victims have now an added on apprehension, if reservation, in seeking treatment in hospitals.
Cancer, one of four non-communicable diseases, has been described as “a silent disaster” of massive proportion in this country of 110 million people.
It is ravaging the Filipino population, killing 300,000 victims a year, 800 every day, and 33 every hour, with some health experts describing cancer toll on lives to “two 747 planes packed with passengers crashing every day.”
Beyond doubt, coping with cancer in the face of the coronavirus, which has infected and killed millions worldwide, can bring up a wide range of feelings one is not used to dealing with.
We have our minds on some cancer patients who might be at increased risk of serious infection in the coronavirus pandemic zone in general because their immune systems can be weakened by cancer and its treatments.
Then most people who were treated for cancer in the past—like it was just in recent years—are likely to have normal immune function, but each person is different from the next.
When they share their rationale for refusing conventional treatment, they mention multiple reasons, like fear of adverse side effects of cancer treatment (particularly chemotherapy), uncertainty about treatment effectiveness, hopelessness, helplessness, loss of control, denial (about their illness), psychiatric attention and management.
The most common reason patients decline recommended hospital care is because they lack information.
In these cases, a physician’s ethical obligation is to ensure patients understand exactly what they are declining.
What has aggravated the reluctance is the sight of hospitals attending to coronavirus patients: active infections, recovering patients, and some dead.
Given their unguarded immune system, we can understand the strong reservation. This is where information must shift to higher gear.
