One out of eight males develops prostate cancer and it is now the second most common cancer among Filipino males following lung cancer.

An official from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) warned that 50 percent of males aged 50 and above will develop urinary and prostate problems that progress as they age. Currently, 19.3 out of 100,000 male population have prostate cancer, Dr. Enrique Ona, NKTI Executive Director said.

“In a five-year experience at NKTI, the top three treated cancers are prostate cancer, 397 cases; bladder cancer, 223 cases; and renal cancer, 190 cases,” Ona told the guests during the opening of the Pediatric and Urology wings of the NKTI recently.

The new facility specializes in the urological problems of men, women and children.

However, research reveals that further studies are yet to reveal the main causes of prostate cancer.

But Ona said that there are other urological problems plaguing many Filipinos today including the steady rise of renal diseases among children in the past 10 years.

“In 2000, the preventive Nephrology project reported a 24 percent abnormality from the nationwide screening evaluation, and the prevalence rate of urine abnormality was 165 per 10,000 cases. From January to December of 2008, urinary tract infection was the sixth leading cause of morbidity as updated by the Philippine Pediatric Society’s accredited hospitals nationwide,” he said.

Although uncommon among children, the NKTI official warned that End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), a condition where a person suffers from damaged kidneys, is an ‘important’ health problem’ among children.

The DoH said ESRD makes it difficult for patients to excrete wastes and regulate electrolytes properly because they have damaged kidneys.

Ona said ESRD, occurs in five to ten children per million every year. “According to the Philippine health statistics, kidney disease is the 10th leading cause of mortality (DoH website 200y7). In 2008, 2.13 percent of new patients on dialysis are 20 years old and below (Philippine Renal Disease registry 2007, REDCOP).”

Ona said the new urology wards at the NKTI wERE established so that early detection and management of ESRD and other urological problems may be performed well by NKTI experts.

A bigger project, the Center for Urology and Men’s health is underway and will become the National and regional referral center and the country’s first one-stop shop for urology services.