To mark the World Cancer Day on Wednesday, doctors from Max Super Speciality Hospital, Dehradun — leading healthcare services provider of the region — educated the people about the prevalence of cancer in Uttarakhand. Dr Akash Narain Gaind, consultant – Onco Surgeon at Max Super Speciality Hospital, Dehradun said Uttarakhand has been witnessing several cases of cancer over the last few years.
“In the past two-and-a- half years since the inception of the Department of Oncology at Max Hospital, we have reviewed more than 500 cancer patients. We found that lung, Colon and Gall Bladder Cancers are common in males. Women in Uttarakhand are also equally afflicted with cancer. This is evident from the fact that the hospital receives 40 to 50 women patients on an average every month suffering from mostly breast, cervical, ovarian, uterine, gall bladder or blood cancers.
Most of these patients approach doctors at a very critical stage which further toughens the treatment and cure process. It is important to spread awareness about early detection of cancer, which greatly increases the chances for successful treatment. In early stages like Stage I and II, prognosis and survival is about 80-100% as against stage III and IV when prognosis is only 30-50%.”
Dr Sandeep Singh Tanwar, general manager, Operations at Max Super Sepciality Hospital, said they had recorded cancer cases not just from different parts of Uttarakhand like Rishikesh, Haridwar and Roorkee, but also from the neighbouring States like Himachal Pradesh and UP. “At Max Hospital, we are equipped with all the latest advances in the field of cancer care. With the help of our expert Oncologists, we aim to address the problem of accessibility and ensure immediate, effective treatment to all cancer patients, who can easily avail cancer treatment in their neighbourhood now and do not need to travel to metro cities for accessing such tertiary level treatment.”
As part of observing World Cancer Day, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Dehradun recently organised the Cancer Patients Day, which was attended by approximately 50 patients and their relations. On this special day, the cancer survivors discussed their journey through cancer and motivated many others to fight the disease with dedication. They discussed many cancer related issues such as managing diet, post cancer treatment, self-testing methods and remaining positive and hopeful about recovery.