'Every
Child With Cancer Should Get Curative Care'
Over 23,ooo children in
India are affected by cancer every year, out of which 6,209 suffer from Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer
of the blood and bone marrow. In Tamil Nadu, 1, 290 of cases have been reported
out of which 363 cases are Paediatric ALL, said Dr V Shanta, Chairperson,
Cancer Institute of India. She spoke at a conference held by Tamil Nadu
Pondicherry Pediatric Oncology Group to discuss challenges and issues faced by children battling cancer on
Saturday. “Every child to be afflicted with cancer should get curative health
care. The survival rate is 60-75 per cent today; six decades ago it was zero,”
she said.
Themed ‘Create the
Future’, the Paediatric Haemato Oncology conference saw delegates from India
and Southeast Asia deliberate on the need for educating paediatricians in
enabling them in early detection of pediatric cancer with advanced screening
procedures, help reduce its occurrence and even bridge the gender gap in
treatment.
Girls respond to treatment
better than boys, biologically with all cancer therapies. However, in all
cancer centers the number of girl children being brought for treatment is far lower
than the number of boys out of the total 15,000 children diagnosed each year,
the experts noted.
“The ratio of afflicted
cancer patients would be in the ratio of 1.4:1 (boys: girls); but the hospital
registries would indicate a ratio of 3:1,” said Dr Shripad Banavali, Head,
Medical and Paediatric Hematology, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.
“Paediatrics constitute
2.3 percent of all cancers. The incidence of cancer is lesser in India when
compared to other developing and developed nations. The predominance of boys in cancer cases is
universal and is increasingly being noticed in metropolitan cities vis-a-vis
rural areas. Whether it is due to inaccurate diagnosis or incomplete
registration it is hard to tell. Leukaemia
and other related disorders account for more than 50 per cent of all
childhood cancer while ALL accounts for 24 percent of these cases,” Dr Shanta
added.
Amid landmark changes in
pediatric cancer treatment delivery such as conceptual changes in therapeutic
care involving multi-disciplinary team, protocol based therapy and adequate
supportive care; the disparity in access to quality healthcare between boys and
girls were some of the key issues discussed at the conference.
“Childhood cancers are
curable and the girl child should also be given a chance. We have noticed that
abandonment rates are high in girls possibly because of the high cost of
treatment or even the parents concern about the impact of the treatment on the
child’s appearance or even physiology which is feared to impact the child’s
future prospects, especially marriage. Communities, philanthropists,
Organisations and the government need to collectively come forward to educate
and lower the social stigma associated with cancer in the girl child.” said Dr
Revathi Raj, Paediatric Haematologist, Apollo Hospitals and the Organizing
Secretary of the Conference.
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