Chennai :
The job of Dr. Julius Scott , a paediatric haemato-oncologist, is to diagnose and treat cancer in children. But he says that is just not enough. He also raises funds for poor children who can’t afford treatment.
On Monday, at a function organized by Sri Ramachandra University as part of International Day for Childhood Cancer Awareness , he said his department has been engaged in raising funds for several poor patients with volunteers from within and outside university. “It has become inevitable. The dropout rates are extremely high because parents can’t afford treatment. At our hospital we are encouraging medical students to raise funds. This increases awareness among medicos and also increases cure rate,” said Dr Scott.
Most cancer experts and hospitals across the city are actively raising funds for cancer treatment for poor children. At Ramachandra hospital, students run Med Hope, which funds treatment for children. Other non-governmental organizations such as Jev Daya Foundation provide salaries for nursing staff and Can Kids Kidscan provides free medicines.
Cancer affects about 60,000 children in India every year. Treatment costs between Rs1.5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh, depending on the type of cancer. A study by Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital showed that of 762 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia admitted to a tertiary care hospital, nearly 30% of patients refused treatment and 15% abandoned treatment. Across the country, dropout rates range from 17% to 62%, said senior surgeon Dr Priya Ramachandran, who also raises funds for children with cancer. Her hospital runs two sponsored programmes for children with cancer. In a poster presentations made at an international oncology conference, the hospital showed that the survival rate was 80.8% for children who had completed treatment. As per statistics, the five-year survival rate in Chennai for paediatric malignancy is only 40.
Doctors say the funds are hardly enough. “There are times when I have funds just for one child so I have to pick the one who has a higher chance of survival. But if we continue to raise funds, we are less likely to do this,” said Ramachandran.
There has also been a steep increase in the number of children diagnosed with cancers, particularly leukemia and lymphoma. For instance, the incidence of cancer in the 0-4 age group is 14/100,000 boys and 8-9/100,000 girls, according to the Madras Metropolitan Tumour registry at the Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai. “A part of the increase may be explained by better detection and reporting,” said R Swaminathan, who co-ordinates the registry.
Doctors say they don’t know the reasons for the increase, but agree that their roles have expanded when it comes to childhood cancer treatment. “No doctor allows a child whose cancer has a potential cure to abandon treatment. We knock on several doors for funds. From government health insurance to philanthropists and corporate, everyone is asked to contribute,” said Ramachandran.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Chennai / by Pushpa Narayan, TNN / February 19th, 2013