Manipur: 36th Annual Conference of Association of Radiation on Oncologist of India held

Manipur: 36th Annual Conference of Association of Radiation on Oncologist of India held

Even as much advancement has been made with the introduction of modern technologies in treating cancer to a great extent and checking the spread of its virus, lack of awareness regarding the deadly disease still prevails among the people not only in the rural areas, but also in the urban lot. This was stated by president of Association of Radiation Oncologists of India (AROI), Professor Ramesh Bilimaggo during a press meet which was held  at the premises of the state’s City Convention, prior to the commencing of the 36th Annual Conference of Association of Radiation on Oncologist of India today.

According to the Professor, AROI is an association of cancer specialists practising Radiation Oncology in India. It was established in 1977 and has a total of 2241 members, with 12 state/zonal chapters. Professor Ramesh told that the main aim of the association is to promote the practice and advances in radiation oncology, cancer chemotherapy and allied radiation sciences. It has an educational wing called ICRO (Indian College of Radiation Oncology) and its members meet annually at different places in India. Like every year, this function is hosted by North East Zonal Chapter and is being sponsored by RIMS, Imphal, stated Professor Ramesh.

He also said that India has witnessed many changes in the field of oncology and due to certain advances made in the field; the cancer cure rate has improved for which people now regard cancer as a chronic disease rather than a killer disease. In 1990, the cancer cure rate was 20% and 33% in 1970. In year 2000, the rate increased to 65%. He also mentioned that in India, cancer prevalent cases is about 25 lakhs, and the estimated figures are 10, 00, 000 in 2013, 11, 48, 000 in 2015 and 13, 20, 000 in 2020.

He went on to say that that the government of India has allocated sufficient funds for the treatment of non-communicable disease through the country’s five-year plan. Many health schemes have also been implemented to allow precision radiation to all sections of patients in the society, even for the poorest of the poor categories.

Moreover, 60% of health care in India is provided by private sectors and they further extend their services to other parts of the country thereby creating the opportunity of getting treatment among patients of other parts too.

Stating that the indicator for progress of cancer care depends upon the number of radiotherapy machines available in the country, he further mentioned that approximately 60% of the patients require radiation at some point of their cancer disease. India has 362 institutions offering radiation facility according to Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), as on March 2014), with 543 teletherapy machines and 289 brachytherapy units, which is grossly inadequate for the population of 1.25 billion. The facilities are not evenly distributed throughout India which gives a need for increasing the radiation facilities to at least three times to meet the current demand, stated the professor.