KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 ― Cancer can cause financial distress, adding to the already difficult journey of those who have to go through the ordeal.
According to a 2015 research by The Asean Costs In Oncology (ACTION) study group, 75 per cent of new cancer patients in Southeast Asia experience financial catastrophe within one year.
The catastrophic health expenditure and 12-month mortality associated with cancer in Southeast Asia study involved 9,513 adult patients with an initial diagnosis of cancer from eight countries in the Asean region including Malaysia.
The study found that 64 percent of the patients were women and after a year of diagnosis, 29 percent had died while 48 percent experienced financial catastrophe and just 23 percent were alive with no financial catastrophe.
The risk of dying from cancer and facing catastrophic payments was associated with variables, such as advanced disease stage at diagnosis, and socioeconomic status pre-diagnosis.
Petaling Jaya’s Cancer specialist centre, Beacon Hospital through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes aims to ease the financial burden faced by their cancer patients.
According to their Patient Relation and CSR director Calvin Karthigesu, their CSR programmes include a subsidised rate for cancer patients through their Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapy funds.
This is due to the complicated nature of cancer and the multi-modalities treatment it requires.
For example, for breast cancer patients, they will have to go for a scan followed by surgery and if the clinical findings are there, they’ll have to go through chemotherapy.
Some of them have to go through radiation therapy to control their hormones.
“So, what we’ll do is, we have prepared funds for three categories of therapy.”
“Depending on how much the patient can pay, we will subsidise the balance,” Calvin said.
According to Calvin, for chemotherapy, patients need to sit through six to eight cycles once every three weeks.
The cost per cycle in a private setting could cost from RM4,000 to RM5,000 but through their CSR initiatives, patients would only need to pay ten percent of the cost which is about RM500.
Meanwhile for targeted therapy, patients would need about 18 cycles and it would cost them RM9,100 per cycle, however through the programme, the price is lowered to RM2,500 per cycle.
“The model is very simple; we will look at the patient current status and what is the cost of treatment required by the patient and how much they can afford.”
“Doesn’t matter who the patient is, as long as you can prove you’re having difficulty at this point of time and you need assistance, we will give it to you.”
The main challenge of these initiatives is how to sustain it.
“We’ve formulated a way where it's co-funded by two different parties since we don’t receive any external funding.
“So, we have to formulate a way to make it sustainable,” Calvin said.
To date, the Beacon Hospital CSR programmes has benefitted approximately 2,555 patients which began since 2010.
They have also channelled more than RM33 million through their programmes which also includes opening cancer clinics in rural areas and cancer awareness campaigns.
