The country needs more cancer specialists, especially oncologists and radiation oncologists, to cater to the health care needs of cancer patients.

Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country needs more health care workers who have the proper knowledge in diagnosing and treating cancer patients.

“We have coordinated with the Commission on Higher Education so that we can produce more of our health care workers,” Vergeire said during the two-day National Integrated Cancer Control Act (NICCA) localization summit for Eastern Visayas on Friday.

Throughout the country, there are only 313 medical oncologists and 106 radiation oncologists; most of them working in urban centers like Metro Manila.

“But most importantly, we would like to have this kind of discussion with our medical societies so that we can identify which areas we need to improve,” she added.

The creation of specialty centers in various regions of the country through Republic Act (RA) 11959, or the Regional Specialty Centers Act, which was signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last year, will entice oncologists to provide their service in rural areas or outside metropolitan areas.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Visayas, there are only six medical oncologists, five of whom are in Tacloban City and one in Ormoc City.

Other cancer specialists in Tacloban are one hematologist, two pediatric hematologists, one obstetrics gynecologist, and one colorectal surgeon. In Ormoc City, there’s only one surgical oncologist.

The region has no radiation oncologist.

Based on data from the Eastern Visayas Medical Center, there are 2,263 cancer patients in the region as of 2023, with the majority of them, or 1,365, being from Leyte province.

The top three cancer diseases in the region are breast, colorectal, and lymphoma.

The DOH, together with the Cancer Coalition of the Philippines, Cancer Warriors, Inc., and Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines, held the localization summit of NICCA, or Republic Act 11215, which was signed into law in February 2019 by then president Rodrigo Duterte.

NICCA is a landmark legislation that aims to increase the rate of cancer survival, reducing the burden of patients, including their families, and urges the creation of a cancer registry at the local level.

Having a cancer registry at the local level provides accurate information as it plays a critical role in cancer surveillance. The data gathered serve as a foundation for cancer research and cancer incidence and are used to plan and evaluate cancer prevention, treatment, and control interventions. (PNA)