Make cancer treatment open to all
Make cancer treatment open to all
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday said that despite the huge cost, cancer treatment should be available to as many sufferers as possible in Indonesia, irrespective of their ability to pay.
Opening an international cancer conference, Soeharto said that cancer, which is fast becoming one of the main killer diseases in the country, is indiscriminate, inflicting the rich and the poor.
"I hope that people all over the country have access to the same services in the control of cancer," he said at the opening ceremony at the State Palace. "A sense of security and confidence will emerge at receiving the same quality of health services anywhere in the country."
"Efforts must be made to find the best possible way of reducing the cost. Otherwise cancer patients will face two problems simultaneously. Beside suffering from a disease that can very well take their lives, they will also be burdened by high medical costs."
He urged the 800 or so experts attending the three-day cancer conference to find ways and means of overcoming the shortage of funds, something that is characteristic of developing countries, in dealing with cancer.
The President noted that in 1989, one in every 1,000 Indonesians had cancer. The number is increasing rapidly with the changing pattern of diet and lifestyle, he added.
Soeharto said he, in his personal capacity, has already made a start in encouraging the widest participation of people in fighting cancer.
Donations
The Dharmais Cancer Hospital in Jakarta, managed by the Dharmais Foundation which he chairs, was built with money from donations from the business community, he pointed out.
He added that the hospital, with the Ministry of Health, is developing a community-based cancer treatment program.
Nigel Gray, the president of the International Union Against Cancer, in his remarks at the ceremony, warned that cancer will progressively become a major cause of death in Indonesia, as it has in many other parts of the world.
He warned that a screening program, now becoming more widely available through developments in medical science, would not be successful unless a simultaneous effort was made at making treatment more available to the people.
Gray said that priority should be given for the early detection of cervical cancer, breast cancer, oral cancer and lung cancer, the latter through anti-smoking campaigns.
Gray however warned against expecting quick results with the campaign against smoking.
From experience in Britain and Australia, lung cancer death rates do not start to fall for at least two to three decades after the beginning of anti-smoking campaigns, he said.
"Epidemics of tobacco-induced cancer have a minimum time frame of 50 to 80 years and all countries which consume tobacco in large quantities must face the fact that they will need to make a very large commitment of treatment resources before the effects of a preventive program are seen." (emb)