Chennai:

The city will get 250 more beds for cancer patients by the end of the year. While this addition would increase the patient bed ratio for cancer patients, medical experts say it is important that the services are offered at an affordable rate.

Chennai has more than five special cancer care hospitals, and the latest will be the MIOT Institute for Cancer Cure that opens on Sunday. Global Hospital’s cancer special hospital will open later this year.

“Our hospital will have 100 beds exclusively for cancer patients, the building will have 500 beds from which a few more will be allotted if required,” said MIOT Hospitals, Managing Director P V A Mohandas. Global Hospitals’ cancer center will have 150 beds. With the number of cancer patients increasing by 1% every year, this trend of private health care centres stepping forward to provide specialized cancer care treatment may in the long run provide more options for patients coming to the city for treatment. “Across the country, patients feel they are safe when treated in Chennai. This is the reason we have a huge influx of patients from across the country, Asia and the UAE visiting us,” said Dr K S Shekhar, head of the oncology department at Global Hospitals in Chennai.

Private hospitals in the city are not only employing more oncologists on board but are also investing in state-of-the-art equipment such as ‘True Beam,’ which costs Rs 40 crore. “The technology is four times faster, and takes a maximum of 15 minutes. It specially targets tumors in moving organs like the lungs and liver,” said Dr Rajini D, oncologist with MIOT hospitals, which has got the machine. India is the fourth country in the world to import the German technology. These developments are a far cry from the early 1990s when cancer patients in the city had to depend on only a couple of hospitals for treatment.

Medical experts say studies have in the past shown that special cancer centres have a better success rate than a general hospital. “Cancer affects so many facets of the body, and so requires a multi-disciplinary treatment (MDT). A specialized center that has all facilities that a patient requires can only qualify as cancer care,” says Dr V Shanta, chairperson,  of  Adyar Cancer Institute.

While experts say private health care centres that earlier focused more on heart and cardio specialization now looking at cancer is a positive sign, the benefit should be passed on to people of all socio-economic backgrounds. “Today everyone cannot afford treatment in a corporate hospital,” said Dr Shanta.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / July 22nd, 2012