world cancer day message

Modern medicine has most definitely brought a paradigm change in the outcome of Cancer patients .
The number of survivors with a cure has definitely gone up ,those who are not cured too live longer and have a better quality of life with better therapies and supportive care available to them .
Though one has to mention the financial toxicity of modern cancer treatments which cannot be avoided since it involves costly trials and evidence based rigorous firewalls to introduce a new medicine or therapy as needed scientifically for the protection of the cancer patient .
Immunotherapy, targeted therapy ,more sophisticated surgery and Radiotherapy ,all has made a difference ,albeit at a cost .

The need for a sensible insurance policy and health policy to aid the cancer patient is a dire necessity
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While on this topic we also have factors which are inimical to good cancer treatment .
These are not new and have always been the anti thesis in the fight against the scourge cancer .

Prevention is better than cure is an adage which has lot of sense in oncology ,the Screening programmes accepted for a few cancers like colon ,Breast ,cervix and the use of vaccines against hepatitis B and c for susceptible population and HP virus vaccines need a large scale public information campaign to reach out to the millions ,but unfortunately neither the center nor the states have realized this and the amount of funds allotted to this vital oncology prevention is meager ,to a certain extent NGO s have contributed their mite but they are just drops in an ocean needed .

one cannot understand a country which has hundreds of TV channels ,millions of social media sites,thousands of newspapers and journals and FM radio networks that bore you with uninspiring serials and idiotic political debates dont spend even one percent of their time on this vital transformation of information
its pertinent that these messages as well as the do and donts and early signs of cancer reach out to the public both educated and uneducated as the right knowledge on cancer is abysmal .

The second biggest obstacle for ethical oncology practitioners in India is the huge grey market which spreads misinformation and myths on Cancer to gain by way on unscientific treatments and thousands of claims which prevent people taking treatment at the right time and allow their cancers to grow to a stage that cure is no more possible
The valuable window of treatment is lost by these claims which are allowed by ruling governments to continue and some even encouraged and supported .
Myths abound on diet about what causes and what prevents cancer written by charlatans , who know nothing to do with anything ,
The system of a country should be alert to such false claims but unfortunately all kinds of quacks feed cancer patients with false hopes and lure them from taking correct treatment while sucking their resources , the only goal being to make money by exploiting fears .

One thing we can be smug about is this is not only happening in India but in many other countries too but that is no satisfaction .

Its time such false claims are exposed and quacks are punished and money spent on supplements are stopped and social media posts which support unscientific claims are clamped by the police strictly ,in the fight against cancer we can ill afford to have such obstacles
Having worked in oncology for last three decades i had seen several such cases going hay wire as they indulged in indigenous treatments ,homeo medications and the like by quacks and wasted valuable time and have regretful disease later ,
Its sad to know that those who could have been cured are pushed into sure death by suffering because of these charlatans .

Even those who are undergoing treatment spend money on costly supplements unnecessary dietary restrictions believing such canards and suffer by costs and ill health due to these .

There has been lot of experiences where patients suffer from hematological discrepancies unrelated to their treatment only on investigating repeatably we come to know patient is on some supplement or medication of some other system and that was causing the whole problem ,patients are told to take it along with the chemotherapy to assure of a good cure as chemotherapy would not do that and patients trust them without telling it to their medical oncologists
Its time these kind of myths are broken and claimants are arrested by the health system in the country
This is my message on this world cancer day .