Free digital rectal examination for men on Father’s Day

MANILA, Philippines—A free digital rectal examination (DRE) will be offered to males aged 40 years and up on June 14 in celebration of Father’s Day.

In a statement, the Department of Health (DOH) said that the free DRE, dubbed as “National PaDRE and Men’s Health Day,” will be conducted in 27 DOH-retained hospitals and 37 private hospitals in the country.

The DRE is one of the main screening procedures in assessing prostate.

“Most Filipinos are still uninformed about prostate cancer and that vast majority of cases are detected in advanced stage. Screening among men is needed to detect the disease in its early stage,” the DOH said.

Prostate cancer is the 4th most common cancer among males, DOH records showed. According to the 2010 Cancer Facts and Figures, about 2,712 new cases are diagnosed yearly in the Philippines with an estimated 1, 410 deaths.

“Increasing age is most important risk and the number of Filipino males aged 40 years and older is the main reason for the significant increase and the expected continuing increase in cases,” said Health Secretary Enrique Ona, adding that a substantial number of prostate cancer is grows slowly and may initially have no clinical impact.

The incidence rate starte to increase sharply at age 55.

The “National PaDRE is a project of DOH and Philippine Urological Association that started in 1996. Last year, a thousand patients were examined in 64 centers nationwide.

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