The burden of breast cancer is increasing in India due to various factors and more young women were reported diagnosed at an advanced state.
This was shared at the Telangana Regional Round Table meeting on Breast Cancer organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with Novartis here on Friday.
The objective of the State Round Table is to capture insights and suggestions from various stakeholders at the State level and collate it along with some of the good practices in the form of a white paper. Government representatives, medical colleges, hospitals, academia and civil society organisations were among the stakeholders who attended.
An early diagnosis and treating identified patients with appropriate medical management would improve the treatment outcome and quality of life and decrease the burden for the patient and the dependent, the speakers in the meeting said.
Giving the statistics, they said that breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among Indian women with age adjusted rate as high as 25.8 per 100,000 women. Lack of awareness, inhibitions on the part of patients, social stigma and ignorance at the primary and secondary health care level were some of the reasons for the delay in detection of the disease. Early detection is the best option for reducing mortality, the speakers emphasised. Innovative treatment options available now offered to extend the life of advanced breast cancer patients with acceptable quality of life.
President of Indian Society of Oncology Dinesh Pendharkar said that cancer units at the district level that were working in seven States would also be initiated soon in Telangana.
Director of MNJ Institute of Oncology Regional Cancer Centre N. Jayalalitha said that incidence of early breast cancer was increasing by two % every year. But only 2.4 % of all breast cancer cases reported at the Regional Cancer Centres were of Stage I. More than 50 % of the cases were reported at an advanced stage.
Head Patient Advocacy, Policy and Communication in Novartis Prabhat Kumar Sinha said that the company was working with seven States for Public Health initiatives through formal MoUs and was committed to improve health outcome for breast cancer patients.
Uma Aysola of IWN, Telangana and head of the Alliances and Partnerships, Access Health International Inc said they were confident of coming up with novel collaborative model of combating the disease by including all the stakeholders in the health care system.
