Dr Arshad Cheema, senior cancer surgeon at Mayo Hospital and the chief of surgery, shared this information while speaking with the media about the third National Cancer Surgery Conference which is slated to begin February 2.
Dr Cheema said that surgeons from 36 districts would participate in the conference in Lahore, which would also mark World Cancer Day on February 4. The conference is organised by the Surgical Oncology Society Pakistan (SOS-PK) and will end on February 5.
Dr Cheema said that CCCs are urgently needed and demanded that the Punjab government invest CCCs. The four components of a national cancer control programme are prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment and palliative care, he said. Over 40 per cent of deaths from cancer, he added, would be prevented by an effective hepatitis B vaccination campaign and the banning of cigarette smoking.
Communities need to be made aware about environment pollution and that vegetable farming should not be done with industrial waste water, the surgeon said. Breast cancer awareness is also necessary.
Surgery, radiology and chemotherapy are three efficient treatments for cancer, Dr Cheema said. Surgery counts for 60 per cent of people who are cured from cancer while adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy stand at 10 to 20 per cent.
Surgery is the cheapest treatment while radiation is costly as each patient has to pay Rs2.4 million a month for injections like Herceptic, he added. Good palliative care can help those suffering from latter stages of cancer.
A Mayo Hospital official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that cancer patients should be given morphine injections to alleviate pain.
However, the Health Department, he said, provided only ten injections a year for the 2,400 bed Mayo Hospital.
Dr Cheema spoke about the advantages of a CCC.
Cancer patients would have access to surgery, radiation and chemotherapy under one roof. Currently, patients at Mayo Hospital are referred for tests to other institutions.
During the conference surgery workshops will be held at Services Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and Mayo Hospital. On February 4, an inaugural session will be held at the Library Hall of the King Edward Medical University where Dr Samar Mubarakmand will be present. Academic sessions will be held on February 5 at the Pearl Continental Hotel where 65 research papers will be presented.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2011.
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