Hospitals and the medical fraternity must take steps to ensure cost-effective treatment to the common man, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
Speaking after inaugurating a centre for high-precision radiation therapy at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) here on Saturday, he said that the government was aware of the cost for treating different diseases, based on data from government-run hospitals.
The new radiation therapy centre enables cancer treatment with high-end CyberKnife and Tomotherapy, in which the focus is on quick, high precision and painless treatment of cancerous tumours.
Treatment would be provided at almost one-fourth the prevailing cost to make it affordable to everyone, said an AIMS press release.
Addressing the audience, Mr Vijayan said that AIMS was among the best hospitals in India. The government recognized the need for quality healthcare, and appreciated the important role that non-government hospitals were playing in the State. This was for the first time that such a facility for non-invasive treatment of cancer was established in Kerala, even though it was available in many other parts of India, he said.
Dr. Debnarayan Dutta, head of radiation oncology, said that introduction of the twin technologies represented a paradigm shift in cancer care. They offered out-patient, short duration treatment with minimal side effects. “We are offering these world-class radiosurgery facilities with fully robotic radiation delivery system at almost one-fourth of the prevailing treatment cost, with no waiting time for patients,” he said.
CyberKnife is used for treating small-size cancerous tumours such as brain tumours, moving targets (tumours that move during treatment) such as lung, liver and prostate cancer, and metastatic diseases. The treatment, which is completely painless with minimal toxicity, lasts only a few minutes, and patients can go home immediately. Tomotherapy delivers radiation doses very precisely to irregular tumours and larger-size tumours. These modern radiosurgery systems deliver precise dose of radiation to cancerous cells, while sparing healthy tissue, unlike the traditional radiation treatment.
Such advanced care for patients was urgently needed in Kerala because of the rising incidence of cancer, currently hovering around 160 in males and 153 in females per 100,000 population. Dr. Dutta said that the incidence of cancer in Kerala was similar that of Western countries. For example, while cervical cancer was the most common cancer found in Indian women, in Kerala breast cancer was the most common. The incidence of prostate cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer was also higher in Kerala, while the incidence of head and neck cancer was less, he said.
