THE Covid-19 pandemic has interrupted cancer screening programmes causing Malaysians to be screened at a later stage for the deadly disease, said National Cancer Society Malaysia (NCSM) director Dr Murallitharan Munisamy.

He told The Malaysian Insight this was because hospital resources had been channeled to fight the pandemic in the past two years.

“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have lost a lot of our screening capabilities.”

“We are detecting most of the cancer cases in patients at a later stage, either at stage three or four,” he said.

Dr Murallitharan said that on average, Malaysia reports about 20,000 new cancer cases each year.

He said of them, almost 50% of cases were diagnosed at a later stage.

“I would say 40 to 50% of all patients are being diagnosed at a later stage.

“I may be, if anything, understating the figures,” he added.

According to a Global Cancer Observatory report released in 2021, there were 48,639 new cancer cases logged in the country in 2020.

A total of 23,052 of the cases involved men, while the remaining 25,587 involved women.

There were also 29,530 deaths caused by cancer in 2020.

Dr Murallitharan said the situation could only get worse as the country was still reporting daily Covid-19 cases in the thousands and having not transitioned fully into endemicity.

He said the cost to treat Covid-19 patients in the country has reduced the government’s expenditure to treat cancer patients.

“I can only imagine that the problem is getting worse because we are still treating Covid-19 patients till today.”

“This means the expenditure of treating Covid-19 patients is there and that may be the reason they (the government) can’t spend so much on chronic diseases like cancer,” he said.

On the shortage of medicine for cancer patients, Dr Murallitharan said Covid-19 had also caused many to lose their jobs, resulting in them seeking medical attention at public hospitals, which he said was one of the reasons for the shortage.

He said those who were previously seeking consultation and medication at private hospitals have now turned to the government.

“The problem has worsened because there are too many patients seeking help in government hospitals.”

“Imagine 60 to 70% who have cancer coming back to government hospitals because people lost their jobs.”

“When they lose jobs, they also lose the company insurance that comes along with employment.”

“So, without insurance, they have to come back to government hospitals. A lot of people now have no money and they depend on the government,” Dr Murallitharan said.

A 2015 survey showed that nearly half of Malaysian cancer patients were financially broke just a year after diagnosis.

According to the George Institute for Global Health, 99% would use up their life savings, 39% could not afford to pay for their medication and 19% decided to discontinue their treatment.

Cancer medications are not subsidised by the government, forcing some patients to purchase those medications at premium rates in pharmacies or private hospitals.

Cancer medications and chemotherapy could easily range from RM50,000 to almost RM400,000 in total.

Of the 36 cancer treatment centres in the country, only six are under the ministry, Hospital Kuala Lumpur, the National Cancer Institute, Penang Hospital, Hospital Sultan Ismail in Johor, Hospital Likas in Sabah, and Sarawak General Hospital.

Four of the remaining centres are in university hospitals and 27 in private hospitals.

Last year, Klang MP Charles Santiago urged the government to create a national cancer fund for the poor in Budget 2022.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin acknowledged the inequality problem in terms of cancer care for its citizens in the country.

He admitted that cost for cancer care was unaffordable among the low-income groups.

According to Khairy, Malaysia only has 128 oncologists, with 78 of them in private, 36 of them in public hospitals and 14 in universities. – June 22, 2022.