KOCHI:
The country’s primary health centres (PHCs) play a key role in checking cancer deaths even as increasing reliance on technology to fight the disease makes an agency like the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) vital, a national symposium noted today.
Delayed diagnosis is killing two-third of India’s cancer patients. This can be checked only if rural healthcare facilities come up with stronger awareness drives about the malignant disease, according to CanQuer, the 3rd annual symposium hosted by Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) and KSUM.
Such PHC-centric programmes need to be held regularly to sense early suspicion of cancer, thus leading to prompt diagnosis and treatment, speakers said on the inaugural day of the November 8-10 event at KSUM’s Integrated Startup Complex in Kalamassery, 20 km north of Kochi.
All the same, the country’s PHCs are generally not staffed enough to let their workers attend training sessions spanning three months to gain basic expertise in join the fight against cancer. Availability of experts to groom them is another issue, pointed out experts at the opening session on ‘Digital Platform for PHC Training’. ‘Technology to Eliminate Cancer Care Disparity’ is the key theme of the three-day event.
Dr Gauravi Mishra, who heads the Department of Preventive Oncology at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, stressed the need for a standardised module to battle the set of diseases defined by abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade the whole body.
Dr Sunil Anand of Delhi’s ECHO India that is into medical education and care management explained how virtual teaching can increase the efficacy of cancer awareness in the country. Hardly 40 per cent of medical practitioners can hold video conferences amid improper functioning of India’s healthcare system that has otherwise an ideal pyramidal structure.
Dr Moni Kuriakose of CCRC (Ernakulam District) said Kerala had no less than 80 cancer centres, the density of which is on par with developed nations. Yet, they require thorough integration with the PHCs for improved performance, he added.
Savitha Kuttan, founder-CEO of Ominicuris which is India’s largest CME platform, and Guruprasad Thimmaiah of Danish pharma MNC Novo Nordisk made presentations.
KSUM Chief Executive Officer Dr Saji Gopinath said that Kerala’s agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities has “great potential” in grooming startups that are into medicine, more so cancer care. “Already KSUM is working with the state government in its efforts to strengthen PHCs through projects such as Aardram that aims at people-friendly health delivery,” he noted. “Only recently, an Odisha-based researcher’s startup on cancer drug delivery system that the KSUM mentored won recognition at Beijing.”
The day-one sessions at CanQuer included ‘Comprehensive Digital Platform for Patient Education and Tracking’ and ‘Integration of Primary and Tertiary Cancer Care’. The rest two days will see 12 more sessions led by experts from various fields.
