‘Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum’ Organizes Panel Session on Comprehensive and Equitable Coverage for Cancer Treatment

AMMAN – Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum (TAG-Forum), a member of Talal abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), organized a panel discussion on ‘Comprehensive and Equitable Coverage for Cancer Treatment: A National Priority and Collective Responsibility, in cooperation with King Hussein Cancer Foundation (KHCF), through live streaming on the Forum’s Facebook page.

The Forum hosted Ms. Nisreen Qatamish, Director General of KHCF, Ms. Ghada Sawalha, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Jordan Ahli Bank, Ms. Ibtisam Al Jadou’, a cancer survivor and founder of ‘Iradet Rouh’ for Human Resources Development, in addition to Ms. Nicole Shaheen, a fighter in a battle against cancer disease.

Participants discussed the challenges that encounter healthcare system and the gaps in the medical coverage of cancer disease, highlighting the importance of the ‘Cancer Care Program (CCP); a nonprofit coverage program that provides cancer care coverage and guarantees treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center, one of the top cancer centers in the world, in return for minimal annual subscription fees.

CCP was suggested as a medical insurance model at individual and corporate levels to be set as a national solution for the sustainability of cancer disease care to ensure equal right in quality and comprehensive treatment against cancer.  

Executive Director of TAG-KF and TAG.Global Education and Youth Consultant, Mr. Fadi Daoud, affirmed the importance of such digital panel sessions mainly in the era of digital transformation due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis worldwide, which has to be capitalized to promote benefits to all segments of society.

Meanwhile, Ms. Qatamish assured the participants of the keenness of King Hussein Cancer Foundation to provide equitable treatment to cancer patients. However, she expressed her belief in innovative solutions to finance healthcare system that are needed to ensure sustainability of cancer treatment.

Qatamish also noted that the Cancer Care Program is the best example of the success of the participatory and collaborative approach, calling for improving efficiency of healthcare financing and expenditure being the best mechanism to achieve equitable coverage of cancer treatment as a primary step towards achieving comprehensive medical coverage.

For her part, Ms. Sahalha affirmed Al Ahli Bank’s belief in the corporate social and participatory responsibility in overcoming community challenges, in addition to its belief in the role of the private sector in supporting the national efforts in treating cancer patients. Therefore, according to Sawalha, the Bank has been providing medical coverage since 1997 for all employees against cancer disease with the KHCF, noting that 23 of them benefitted from this coverage.

Cancer survivor Ibtisam Al Jadou’ said that treatment of cancer is so expensive and families alone can’t bear it, pointing out that the comprehensive treatment covers medication, complications and any other problems that might arise accordingly, adding that these details are overlooked by people, not to mention that many insurance entities don’t cover cancer illness.

“The minute I was told that I have cancer, I immediately thought about treatment and cost,” said Nicole Shaheen who is fighting  cancer, stating that subscribing with KHCF’s Cancer Care Program guaranteed her treatment and increased her chances of survival.