PH has only 300 oncologists for cancer patients – expert

MANILA — The number of oncologists that can attend to the needs of cancer patients nationwide is only 300, according to a cancer expert.

“We are about 100-plus million Filipinos and the number of oncologists around the Philippines is only 300 and, admittedly, majority are here in Metro Manila,” University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital Medical Oncology fellow Dr. Kenneth Samala said at the Kapihan ng Samahang Plaridel media forum held last Monday, February 27.

Samala stressed the need to develop more cancer experts and “get trainees who, after being trained, can go back to their communities and serve.”

“Actually, there are local government units and municipalities that are OK with this and send their scholars (to our institution). We train them and they go back to their communities after that,” he said, as he noted that treating cancer is multi-factorial.

“You need manpower. You need oncologists, nurses, surgeons. You need equipment to be used for diagnosis. Of course, you need medicines, so it is somehow challenging,” he added.

Meanwhile, for Philippine Foundation for Breast Care Inc. vice president Aileen Antolin, there is a need to train more experts, like oncologists and pathologists, to attend to the needs of cancer patients.

“What I have observed is that the funding is usually being used to build infrastructure, although what should be highlighted also is the need for manpower or experts,” Antolin said.

“There is a cancer center, but there are no oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, radiologic technologists and mammography technologists. What happens is we just build structures, we acquire machines, but we lack experts to use the facility and equipment,” she added.

If the country has medical and technical experts in these facilities, then the care that can be given to patients becomes complete, according to Antolin.

At the same time, she expressed hope that the country’s young students or scholars will have interest in the field of cancer, so that “we can have more experts who will take care of the needs of our cancer patients.” (Philstar. com)

Developing the maritime industry

With 7,641 islands and one of the world’s most extensive coastlines, the Philippines should have a robust maritime industry. Instead the country has an abundance of deadly maritime accidents even in fine weather and a domestic shipbuilding industry that is so underdeveloped it cannot even produce enough vessels for the coast guard and navy.

The Philippines is the world’s largest source of commercial seafarers, but their jobs are currently threatened by the failure of local maritime schools to meet international standards on training and accreditation.

Editorial

On Tuesday, February 28 President Marcos vowed to make the maritime industry “once again a top priority.” But the industry has never really enjoyed top priority in any administration. And the ills plaguing the industry are symptomatic of the problems hobbling national development.

Philippine education in general is in crisis. Developing a robust domestic shipbuilding, repair and maintenance industry requires strong competencies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM, which are the weakest areas for the average Filipino student. The country also lacks the innovation ecosystem that is indispensable in designing ships for both commercial and defense purposes.

A strong maritime patrol capability could have enabled the country to uphold its sovereignty

THE recent incident at sea between the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Chinese Coast Guard, when the latter used military grade lasers against the PCG and its crew amid reports of continued harassment of Filipino fishermen within our territorial waters, once again highlights the threat posed by China to Philippine interest, sovereignty, and territory in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

While the incident involving lasers may be a first, the harassment and shadowing of Filipino fishermen and the PCG are a constant reality. While our country pursues constructive

FIRST, the context. The Marcos family has a long history of friendship with China. Hate her or love her, former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos made history when she traveled to China in 1978 and met with the late Mao Zedong that led to the declaration of our country's support for the One China policy by the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos in 1979.

The Marcoses and the Chinese

The Marcoses have fond memories of the Chinese. All these years, they have maintained friendly relations and are respectful of Chinese leaders, past and present. After the defeat of Bongbong Marcos in the vice presidential race to Leni Robredo in 2019, it was his FilipinoChinese friends who stood by him during his hour of agony when everybody else shunned him.

The Marcoses and the Americans Marcos Jr. is no stranger to realpolitik and the dangers small and weak countries face against the designs of the more powerful country like the United States. He and his family had a taste of it during the EDSA revolution in 1986, when the Americans helped the coup plotters topple his father. And instead of bringing them to Paoay as originally agreed, hijacked them instead to Hawaii.

But that's only the tip of the "ice cream" as former president Erap Estrada would hilariously put it.

The Americans, to gain favor from the Cory administration, ramped

– as affirmed by an international arbitration court – over disputed areas in the South China Sea. Instead the country continues to rely on allies for protecting its maritime entitlements and has yet to fully achieve credible defense capability.

Addressing the Philippine Maritime Industry Summit 2023 on Tuesday, February 28, President Marcos committed to support aspirations for developing a domestic maritime industry “that will be looked upon with admiration by the region and the rest of the world.”

This includes full support for the Maritime Industry Development Plan 2028, which covers priority programs to expand and promote an environmentally sustainable industry, adopt an efficient system of maritime governance, enhance maritime transport security, innovate and digitalize the industry, promote a competitive workforce and develop shipbuilding and repair.

Those are ambitious goals, but with political will and full government support, they should not prove impossible to achieve within six years. (Philstar.com)