‘40% cancer patients die untreated’

‘40% cancer patients die untreated’

More than 40% of the state's cancer patients die without treatment and a quarter of them is never diagnosed and the rest never make it to a specialized treatment centre. On Sunday, these disturbing facts, revealed in a study by Bengal Oncology Foundation (a platform of oncologists), were discussed at a seminar on 'Cost of Cancer Treatment', organized by the foundation.

Even though the state has 2 lakh cancer patients, only about 6,000 new patients receive treatment in Kolkata every year. Kolkata is the only city with adequate facilities for cancer treatment. The waiting time for new patients at city hospitals is among the highest in the country, reveals the study.

A possible solution could be training quacks to provide initial treatment in areas without cancer hospitals. Bengal Oncology has proposed a network of paramedics in rural areas and specialists in Kolkata for the purpose.

While private hospitals in the city make patients wait for a week on an average, the period is substantially longer in government hospitals. Lack of enough beds forces government facilities to make patients wait for an average of two weeks, which is often stretched longer. This is also a reason why cancer patients from under-developed parts of the state shy away from treatment.

"Every year, the state gets 70,000-80,000 new cancer patients. With a total of around 2 lakh patients, the number of those outside the purview of treatment has remained unchanged. This will not improve unless we have more facilities in the districts and in Kolkata. Sadly, just five medical colleges in the districts and three in Kolkata cater to cancer patients comprehensively, apart from the corporate hospitals in the city. This is grossly inadequate," said Gautam Mukhopadhyay, oncologist and secretary of Bengal Oncology Foundation.

A large number of patients are treated by quacks, which justifies the plan to involve them, believe experts. But the state health department is not ready to buy the argument. "We have trained health workers to cater to mother and child care and allied purposes. Cancer treatment is a specialized area and has to be handled by experts. We can't use quacks or health workers for it. We are planning to send specialists from Kolkata to serve in the districts," said Moloy De, health secretary.

He added that the state government was planning to augment cancer treatment facilities across districts. Eight new radiotherapy instruments were installed at government hospitals. "We are also planning to start early detection centres at hospitals that will guide and assist patients in treatment," said De.

The number of specialists, paramedics and pathologists working in the districts has to be doubled to make a difference, the study claimed. "Since this is easier said than done, we need to look at things realistically. Paramdeics, health workers and quacks working in the districts and rural areas need to be trained in the basics of oncology," said Subir Ganguly, oncologist and senior VP of Bengal Oncology.