Centres For Detection of Cancer On The Anvil
Updated: Mar 31, 2018, 02.30 AM IST
The state public health department will start pre-cancer detection centres in all districts across the state. The centres will come up in every government hospital in a phased manner in which chemotherapy will also be provided. The public health department will team up with the Cancer Warrior Group of the Tata Cancer Institute, Mumbai, in this initiative. The district hospital at Aundh, Pune, could be the first in the state to start such a facility.
Orders to complete the feasibility survey of the centres have already been passed by the health department. The details of the survey will be submitted to the department in the next couple of weeks. The list of the drugs that will be required for chemotherapy has also been asked for by the government. The patients will be provided free chemotherapy and radiation under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojna. The government will also take measures and collect data of cancer patients through surveys. Members of the Cancer Warrior Group will provide training to the doctors of the public health department in the running of the centres.
Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, deputy director of health services, Pune region, said, “These outdoor patient departments (OPDs) will be set up permanently at all the 31district hospitals in the state. Surgeries will be done free of cost for all the patients at the centres. Currently, there is no free chemotherapy at any district hospital. The drugs required at the centres will be provided free of cost by the government.”
“The government has asked for the list of drugs that is usually used in chemotherapy protocols and these will be made available by the government free of cost. A similar list was sent by us for the Aundh district hospital almost a year back. The setting up of the OPD is already done at the hospital, and with the availability of the chemotherapy drugs and the machinery, Pune will hopefully be the first hospital to start the facility.”
Dr Gajanan Kanitkar, oncological consultant and onco-surgeon at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune, and a member of Cancer Warrior Group, said, “The Cancer Warrior Group will be the backbone of the initiative and play a major role. The surgeries will be provided by surgeons for tumour patients free of cost. Even in cases where some of the chemotherapy drugs are not available, these patients will be taken to other hospitals where they can get treatment at minimal cost. Currently. we are conducting an OPD at the Aundh district Hospital regularly and doctors of the public health department will be trained by us for the centres.”
Source : Pune Mirror
