One oncologist per two thousand patients
Madina, a 60-year-old woman, travels more than 550 km every month for chemotherapy to treat lung cancer. “For past six years I am coming here. First I was suffering from blood cancer, and now, I am suffering from lung cancer,” she says.
She is among the 1.8 million people in India living with cancer, the word that invokes fear of death.Now the scenario has improved, thanks to medical science and doctors, who have given hope for those battling this deadly ailment. But India falls abysmally short of hospitals and oncologists treating cancer.
According to the World Health Organization’s entity, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), there are only 27 dedicated cancer hospitals 1,000 trained oncologists in the country. The,ratio of oncologists to cancer patients is 1:2,000.
Huge queue and desperation on the faces of the people outside the Cancer institute in Adyar, Chennai, reflects this imbalance.
In private hospitals, cancer treatment costs up to Rs 5 lakh to Rs 40 lakh depending on the stage and type of the cancer. So, there are long list of patients waiting in the Government funded or Government hospitals. These hospitals are struggling to provide even basic facilities to patients, as there are more number of patients than number of beds available.
Dr Smitha, an intern, says “In one ward, there is provision for only 50 beds, but we adjust 60 patients. We don't have enough Biopsy test machine, so we send the sample to private hospitals.”
It’s not only the cost of cancer treatment, but also its medicines that are expensive , making patients search for free medical treatment.
Raju D, Therapy Manager Oncocare, Mylan Pharmaceuticals PVT Ltd, says “The cost of cancer medicines ranges from Rs 1000 to Rs 85000 for 30 days, and it depends on the number of molecules present in the drug. We only deal with oncology, and supply medicines to hospitals.”
According to the Indian medical association, the survival rates of cancer patients has increased from 30–35 to 70–75 percent in past decade. Nearly 5 to 10 percent have been permanently cured.
