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Kaunting Impormasyon Tungkol sa Kanser sa Baga
Ano ang kanser sa baga? Ang kanser sa baga o �lung cancer� ay isang malubhang sakit na kung saan mayroong bukol o �tumor� na tumutubo sa baga. Ang tumor ay karaniwang mamumuo sa �bronchus�, ang daanan ng hangin papunta at palabas ng baga. Minsan naman ay tumutubo rin ang tumor sa mga�alveoli� na bumubuo ng baga. Kalimita�y hindi ito natutuklasan hanggang kumalat na ang sakit sa ibang parte ng katawan. Ang kanser sa baga ay isa sa mga pangunahing nakamamatay na sakit sa Pilipinas at pati na rin sa maraming parte ng mundo. Sino ang maaaring magkaroon ng kanser sa baga? Karamihan ng nagkakaroon ng lung cancer ay mga madalas manigarilyo. Kung ihahambing sa mga taong hindi nananigarilyo, ang mga madalas manigarilyo (higit sa 20 sigarilyo kada araw) ay may mas malaking posibilidad na magkaroon ng kanser sa baga. Ano ang mga simptomas ng kanser sa baga? Ang kanser sa baga ay madalas hindi nagpapakita ng simtomas hanggang ito�y nasa katawan ng may katagalan. Kalimita�y ubo ang unang tanda, at ang durang lumalabas sa ubo ay may halong kaunting dugo. Maaaring ito�y sundan ng pneumonia o pagbagsak ng isang bahagi ng baga dala ng pagbabara ng bronchus. Kasunod naman nito�y pamamayat at panghihina ng katawan. Dahil sa kahinaan ng katawan, maaari ring mabilis mawalan ng hininga ang maysakit. Paano nasusuri at nagagamot ang kanser sa baga? Pwedeng magpa-Xray sa dibdib at ipasuri ang iniubong dura para sa malaman kung may cancer cells na sa katawan. Pwede itong ipakumpirma sa pamamagitan ng bronchoscopy, kung saan matitingnan ng isang siruhano kung nasaan ang eksaktong posisyon ng tumor. Ngunit malabo na ang paggamot ng kanser sa baga ay magiging matagumpay. Karaniwa�y ang isang paysyenteng hindi pa nagamot ay nabubuhay ng isang taon. Kahit na may medikasyon, mga 10-20 % lang amg nabubuhay hanggang limang taon. Kaunti pa sa 25% ng mga pasyente ay may tumor na magagamot ng operasyon. Ang karaniwang alternatibo ay radiotherapy at paggamit ng cytotoxic na gamot. Paano maiiwasan ang pagkaroon ng kanser sa baga? Ang pag-iwas sa paninigarilyo ang pinakamabisang paraan ng pag-iwas sa kanser sa baga. Kung ititigil ang paninigarilyo, ang posibilidad na magkaroon ng kanser sa baga ay bababa rin. Mabuti ring iwasan ang paglanghap ng usok tulad ng galing mula sa sigarilyo. Gayunpaman, maaari pa ring magkaroon ng kanser sa baga kahit na hindi mataas ang posibilidad ng isang tao na makakuha nito. RGEP: Is That Your Final Answer? UP, as a university, has never envisioned itself to be a mere supplier of highly trained workers. Rather, it sought for its students a more holistic development of their persons. UP envisioned its students as individuals who thought critically, articulated themselves effectively, and had the interests of the Filipino people to heart. Rafael Palma, one of UP�s former presidents (and for whom Palma Hall is named after) stated in his Inaugural Address in 1925 that before students specialize in their respective fields, they are supposed to have a broad general knowledge which would form not only their intellect, but their outlook on life as well. Their training would develop all aspects of their capabilities, so that they become personalities become whole instead of half-baked. A General Education program would serve as a preparatory training for UP students, and this education would be the mark of every UP student. The General Education (GE) program consists of subjects which students are required to take. Its goal is to widen the knowledge of students in different disciplines before they specialize in their respective courses. The GE program is designed to develop the minds of UP students before they become �specialists�. Reality, however, reveals that UP may be losing its touch in terms of student formation. Many have observed that students of UP, while still superior in many ways to students of other schools, have dropped in quality. The thrust on specialization may have weakened the potentials of students in other areas of their development. Engineering students may be highly remarkable in math and science-related endeavors, but quite a number cannot even speak straight English or Tagalog. Many Masscom students may be highly creative and can communicate in a highly effective manner, but they may lack the analytical and quantitative skills being developed in students taking up technically intensive courses. Many have pointed the blame towards the faulty GE program of the university, saying that the courses are no longer relevant or are being taught by unqualified professors. A GE Council has been assigned to the matter, and this year they came up with a proposal which has now received the support of the administration The Revitalized GE Program (RGEP). The RGEP is a plan of the UP administration to make the GE program �semi-structured� and �learner-customized� from the �structured� design of the current system.Instead of assigning set subjects for students to take, the plan is to allow students to take 15 units each of Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences and Philosophy, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics. In short, the whole GE program would consist of 45 units. The student determines what courses he or she takes, instead of being forced to enroll in specific subjects, which is the current set-up. Under the RGEP, the chosen GE subjects would have to fall under the �GE Framework� to be approved by the University Council (UC). UPCAT passers who have scored low in any part of the exam would have to take remedial classes in that area of the test during the summer before enrollment, called the Summer Bridge Program. GE courses will only be handled by senior faculty, to seemingly ensure a high quality of teaching. Many questions and issues have been raised by critics and detractors, ranging from financial and practical ones to those which involve lofty ideals of patriotism and nationalism. At the core of it all, however, is the burning question: Why change the set-up only instead reforming the system itself? Is this the only solution the problem plaguing UP education? An editorial run by the Philippine Collegian in their Dec 11, 2001 issue suggests that instead of seeking to have the RGEP approved, �the administration should focus on exhaustively identifying the factors that ail UP�s general curriculum.� The first step, it says, is to thoroughly assess the current GE courses. Only after the issues have been examined should the focus shift to revising the general curriculum. �New GE courses must build on the current program�s strengths and learn from its weaknesses. Without this kind of analysis, there is little assurance that a revised curriculum would be an improvement over the current one.� RGEP or no RGEP, it seems more fruitful for the university to take a good, long, hard look at the kind of education it has been giving to its students. Feedback from the students and faculty will help identify the problem spots which hinder UP from giving the best education available. Is it lack of resource materials? Is it non-enforcement of rules and policies? Is it course curricula which need to be updated in keeping up with the times? Wherever the problem may lie, there is a real need to look at the problem in a more in-depth manner, instead of looking at it on a surface level only. . In the final analysis, it appears that the RGEP will be approved, seeing that the administration is hell-bent on its implementation. But the RGEP will be of little help, if any, in solving the problems facing UP education today. In the long run, the RGEP may help students in keeping up with the constant changes in society. But if the education they receive continues to be inadequate and substandard in terms of quality, the RGEP will be nothing more than a wasted attempt by the administration to halt the decline of the quality of education in the University. |
