Patient Summit to Strengthen Connection of Non-COVID-19 Patients with Doctors
Both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients battling any of the Philippines’ top chronic non-communicable diseases can now resume regular consultations with their doctors via various means. This issue will take focus in the upcoming Patient Summit, a free interactive virtual event organized through the collaboration of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO), Mercury Drug Corporation (MDC), and Boehringer Ingelheim (Philippines), Inc. The Patient Summit aims to address the pain points patients encounter during the COVID-19 pandemic when seeking medical attention for diseases that remain deadlier than the virus, namely heart diseases, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and pneumonia. According to a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority, in 2020 alone, 100,000 Filipinos died from heart disease, over 60,000 from cancer, almost 40,000 from diabetes, roughly around 35,000 from pneumonia, and 25,000 from hypertension. Based on a SWS survey of 1200 adul...