The Health department has proposed the setting up of Kerala Cancer Care Grid (KCCG), a voluntary network of all cancer care facilities in public and private health sector hospitals, which will form “the backbone of cancer prevention in the State” and provide seamless cancer care, right from prevention to rehabilitation.
The KCCG will play an important role in delivering an equitable cancer prevention and control programme, a key goal of Kerala Cancer Control Strategy (2017-30), which has been formulated to reduce the burden of cancers and enhance the quality of life of patients.
The government has entrusted the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) with the task of setting up the KCCG.
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Though the State has a well-established system for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the public sector as well as a bunch of large private hospitals, inequity in access to treatment remains a major hurdle to early diagnosis and management of cancers.
If Kerala is to evolve a proper strategy to manage its increasing burden of cancer, delay in diagnosis has to be avoided and it should be ensured that the patients complete treatment and are on regular follow-up.
KCCG is thus a novel concept to ensure that everyone in Kerala has equitable access to affordable cancer detection and treatment within 50 km of their residence.
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It has been envisaged as a network of hospitals, with appropriate infrastructure and resources, offering a set of services. The hospitals will be classified on the basis of their capacity and the level of services offered.
“Cancer care experts from across the State had met here recently to discuss the State’s cancer care strategy and a consensus has been reached on the setting up of KCCG. Any hospital involved in cancer care can become part of the network, which will ensure that standard treatment protocols are followed in the management of cancers and that affordable care is offered to people. The response to the idea has been good and I expect many major private hospitals to join the grid,” Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Sadanandan told The Hindu .
Such a networking can benefit cancer management in the State in sharing data, in evolving treatment protocols and in the joint, bulk procurement of equipment and drugs for all hospitals in the network. This might allow the State to bargain for a better price too, bringing down treatment costs, he added.
In the area of training too, the KCCG members can pool the expenses and bring in resource persons from abroad.