The Hindu : Kerala News : A model for cancer control programmes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 21, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

A model for cancer control programmes

Staff Reporter

WHO lauds Kozhencherry experiment which proved a success

SUCCESS STORY: The Cancer Care Centre at District Hospital in Kozhencherry.

PATHANAMTHITTA: A programme launched at Kozhencherry in Pathanamthitta district five years ago as part of the National Cancer Control Programme has been identified as a model project by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Union Ministry of Health for implementation at the national level.

A team of experts led by Cherian Varghese, WHO coordinator in India for non-communicable diseases, P.R.A. Nair of the Union Ministry of Health, and K. Choudhary, Deputy Director General, Indian Council for Medical Research, visited the District Cancer Centre at Kozhencherry run by the District Cancer Centre Society (DCCS) in February to study the successful implementation of the project in the district. The DCCS is headed by the District Collector.

The District Cancer Centre is attached to the District Hospital in Kozhencherry. The superintendent of the District Hospital is also the DCCS secretary. The director is appointed by the RCC.

The Health Department, which has a large network of field staff, launched the Programmes in Kozhencherry along with Kollam, Ernakulam, Palakkad and Kannur with the technical assistance of the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. In fact, the RCC worked out the strategy for the programme.

Barring radiation therapy, the cancer-care facilities at the Kozhencherry centre are on a par with those at the RCC. A well-equipped modern laboratory and a well-managed palliative care ward are the major attraction of the Kozhencherry centre.

The RCC refers its patients in Central Travancore to the Kozhencherry centre for follow-up. And an RCC team unfailingly conducts follow-up clinics at the Kozhencherry centre every month.

The RCC has conducted 63 follow-up clinics and 4,407 patients have undergone check-up in the past five years. As many as 1,534 patients have undergone chemotherapy. A total of 129 surgeries have been performed. The palliative care ward has registered 667 admissions in the past five years.

According to Dr. Varghese, the Pathanamthitta experience has emerged as a sustainable model for cancer care in the country. The model could overcome most of the limitations experienced by earlier cancer control programmes.

The Kozhencherry centre is the only unit in the State which utilised a Central assistance of Rs.10 lakhs for the cancer control programme in 2004.

According to K.G. Sasidharan Pillai, director of the centre, it has conducted 45 awareness camps in Pathanamthitta district, besides four camps in Alappuzha district on a special request from the local MP C.S. Sujatha. Not less than 25,000 persons have been screened and 137 cases detected at these camps. The Kozhencherry centre is a self-financing unit having a net profit of Rs.30 lakhs as on May 31.

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