PhilHealth

PhilHealth Cagayan Valley pushes for more Cancer-care facilities 05-07-2025

PhilHealth always strives to bring access to comprehensive healthcare for every Filipino and its regional office in the Northeastern part of the country continues to stay true to this commitment, aggressively campaigning every year especially for catastrophic illnesses like the Big C - Cancer.

It is a fact that cancer treatment requires expensive, prolonged and specialized care, oftentimes leaving patients and their families overwhelmed and anxious over outcomes and expenses, yes - even those financially banked. This makes patients and families more vulnerable to financial shocks, especially for a region whose nearest town to Manila is a 5-7 hour drive on a good day. This is where PhilHealth Regional Office II draws motivation to rise to the challenge of bringing in more facilities into the cancer-care scene.

In a recent round table discussion, PRO II successfully negotiated for the co-payment for Z Benefit Package for Breast Cancer with Southern Isabela Medical Center (SIMC) - a DOH retained hospital and a PhilHealth accredited facility. This development ensures that SIMC's eligibility to provide quality health care for Z Benefits for Breast Cancer, while patients will have peace of mind knowing that they are entitled to the medicines, laboratories and services under this Package, which now amounts to a maximum of Php 1.4 Million.

“We have been looking forward to this day since we have started negotiating with SIMC and finally we got the breakthrough we’ve been working hard for”, says Dr. Sally Madarang, Health Care Delivery Management Division Chief and Team Leader of the campaign.

This opens the door for the facility to further expand their services as a Z-Benefit Package Provider, currently for Peritonial Dialysis (PD) First and soon for Breast Cancer. SIMC Medical Center Chief Melchor dela Cruz said that the Round Table Discussion “has provided significant insights and better perspectives” that the facility needs to finalize its decision

Regional Vice President Retired B/Gen Llewellyn R. Binasoy said “PRO II is very hopeful that the progress we are making would bring in more capable and equipped facilities, even private facilities, as well as much needed specialists with the necessary competencies and experience. This is the encouragement and inspiration that we draw from our new President and CEO Dr. Edwin Mercado and his vision of RISE 30”.

SIMC joins the list of DOH-retained facilities in the Cagayan Valley Region as an accredited Z-Benefit Package Provider. The list includes Cagayan Valley Medical Center (CVMC) for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) and Breast Cancer Packages and the Region 2 Trauma and Medical Center (R2TMC) for the Premature and Small Newborn Package.

With all hands on deck, PRO II is hopeful that more facilities will answer the call to provide Z-Benefit Packages, ensuring that more Filipinos from the Sierra Madre East to the Cordillera West will have access to quality healthcare for Cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.###