Respect women's rights on health matters -- Loren

Senator Loren Legarda said today that the rights of women, and of all people for that matter, over their health concerns must be respected even if the concerned are public officials like President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Loren issued the statement in the face of the brouhaha over whether President Arroyo went to a hospital for cosmetic purposes or to have a medical concern examined.

"Much had been made about the visit of President Arroyo to a hospital, but we should be aware that there are things that are private and personal even when it comes to public figures," said Loren, author of a number of landmark laws on women's rights and empowerment.

"The confidential relationship between a doctor and a patient must always be respected, unless a medical condition as in the case of the President is already interfering with her performance as a public official," she said.

The senator explained that "whether people are talking about breast implants or a woman's concern about breast cancer, that is a matter whose public disclosure rests solely on the concerned party."

"Breast cancer, as one of the leading killers of women worldwide, is a life and death concern of every woman, who must be given by society the very basic respect of being allowed to deal with it privately, if she so desires, or publicly, if her intention is to raise public awareness on the killer disease."

Loren has established the Bessie Legarda Foundation precisely to help Filipino women fight the menace of breast cancer, a disease which her mother Bessie Legarda bravely fought to the very end. Early detection of breast cancer is a must if the chances for recovery are to be increased, she said.