Time to set up National Cancer Drugs Fund
Government
intervention is crucial to address the financial ruin faced by families paying
for cancer care
A separate study by iMoney shows that someone
suffering from breast cancer in Malaysia needs RM395,000 to go through a
complete treatment cycle.
The George Institute for Global Health in Sydney states that 39%
of Malaysians simply cannot afford the costs of cancer medicines. And at least
19% have been forced to quit their treatment as they are unable to pay the
medical bills.
I was informed by Hospis Kuala Lumpur that a colon cancer
patient has to pay RM8,700 for 30 pills every month. And this cocktail of
medicine has to be taken for 17 months or up to two years, depending on the
gravity of the illness.
On Monday, in his winding-up speech, the Second Finance Minister
Johari Abdul Ghani, shared similar concerns based on his experience in his
constituency, Titiwangsa.
In fact, he proposed that there might be a need to engage all
the insurance companies to provide an affordable coverage to support cancer
patients.
It’s therefore imminent that a National Cancer Medicines Fund is
set-up immediately. Malaysia could model its National Cancer Medicines Fund on
the UK experience with the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) project.
Since its inception in April 2011, at least 95,000 cancer
patients have been given affordable medicines.
As a result, this programme’s allocation under the National
Health Service (NHS) has been expanded to £340 million for this year from the
original £200 million yearly amount six years ago.
But the UK project is far from a handout. It has reduced prices
of medicine as pharmaceutical companies have lowered the prices these medicines
are sold at because people no longer buy from them at the premium rate.
Fourteen different types of cancer medicines have seen costs
plummet and available to eligible patients.
Also, the CDF has vetted license applications from
pharmaceutical companies intending to bring new medicines into the market for
patenting.
If the independent committee finds a new medicine lacking in
effectiveness and innovation, they will not make it available to patients and
this saves both the government and patients costs.
The cancer patients in Malaysia could benefit from the UK
experience. And it will certainly go a long way to help support families and
cancer patients to manage the disease
Charles Santiago is the
MP for Klang
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