The Punjab Government today approved the launching of a month- long awareness campaign aimed at early detection of cancer in Faridkot on a pilot basis from October 2.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal held a meeting in this regard yesterday. He said the campaign would be extended to the entire state in December.
The pilot project for Faridkot would involve 50,000 personnel covering a population of more than 1.25 crore.
Expressing satisfaction over the recent mega medical camps in the Malwa belt, Badal said such camps would be held in the border and Kandi areas too.
The Chief Minister directed Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa to release the requisite funds to the Health and Family Welfare Department so that these could be placed at the disposal of medical colleges in the state to ensure quick and hassle-free treatment to cancer patients.
The Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Vinni Mahajan, told the Chief Minister of certain bottlenecks in the disbursement of the “Cancer Rahat Kosh”. She said steps had been taken to make the system more patient-friendly. Relief would be provided from the date of the diagnosis.
Whenever a patient was diagnosed with cancer by any medical college, a college committee would be given the powers to refer the case to a state-level sanctioning committee.
Empanelled hospitals could begin treatment immediately after a security deposit from the patient, which would be refunded after the relief was sanctioned, Mahajan said.
The Health Secretary said if the disease progressed and the treatment cost went beyond the original estimate, an additional amount would be sanctioned up to a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh.
In another patient-friendly initiative, if a patient undergoing treatment at one hospital was required to be referred to another empanelled hospital, the balance amount with the previous hospital would stand transferred to the referee hospital.
On the directions of the Chief Minister, the Health and Family Welfare Department has prepared a plan to drastically reduce the cost of cancer drugs by inviting tenders for generic versions of the cancer drugs.
The list of drugs have been worked out by experts, including those from the PGI.
It is expected that the process of competent bidding will bring down the rates substantially.
Even for diagnostics, the empanelled hospitals have agreed to provide a 25 per cent rebate on their own rates or to charge the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) rates, whichever is less.
Taking part in the deliberations, the Chairman of the Medical Council of India, Dr KK Talwar, emphasised the need to evolve a monitoring system for a fair assessment of the success of the programme and if need be corrective steps must be taken to make it more effective and responsive.
Making a presentation, the Executive Director of the State Health Systems Resource Centre, Punjab, Dr PL Garg, told the Chief Minister that cancer had become a household word in Punjab.
He said the incidence of cancer was extremely high in Punjab, especially in the cotton belt of Malwa though there was yet no scientific evidence to support this.
During the campaign, existing cancer cases shall also be identified. They will be referred to the nearest hospital by link workers.
The Punjab government embarked on an ambitious plan to detect cancer at an early stage by launching a state-level campaign at Faridkot today. The health department aims at making door-to-door visits in the next two weeks across Faridkot district, with a population of 6.18 lakh in 173 villages and three towns, to make the families aware about the symptoms of cancer and identify suspected patients.
But an acute shortage of medical staff in government hospitals and dispensaries, and poor availability of supporting infrastructure to help suspected cancer patients with proper diagnosis may cast a shadow on the project.
Of the total 101 sanctioned posts of medical officer in Faridkot, 47 have been lying vacant for a long time. Further, three civil hospitals and two community health centres lack emergency doctors. There are no radiologists to operate the two ultrasound machines in the district.
The health department is relying on Aasha workers and nursing staff to conduct the survey in 173 villages. In urban area, where there are no Aasha workers, students of nursing colleges have been assigned the task of educating people about cancer.
Those who have been assigned the task have been given a two week’s training by senior doctors, said Dr Sanjeev Sethi, nodal officer for the Cancer Awareness Campaign in Faridkot.
During their visits, the students, nurses and Aasha workers will provide families with a chart bearing 12 symptoms and diagrams of cancer. Every member of the family will be physically examined and the family’s history will be logged.
All suspected cases will be referred to the medical officer of the area, said Dr Sethi. The medical officer may recommend further tests or examination at the local civil hospital or medical college.
State Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal inaugurated this campaign today. The minister was accompanied by some senior health officials and politicians, including Faridkot MP Paramjit Kaur Gulshan, MLAs Deep Malhotra and Mantar Brar.
The minister said the campaign would be completed within one month and the number of examined patients and their diagnosis would be updated online on a daily basis.
The minister said the state government would accord financial help to cancer patients at the primary stage of diagnosis. The flow of the financial help would be hassle-free, the minister added.
NIPPING cancer
WITH the Malwa region of Punjab registering an ever-increasing number of cases of cancer, it is only in the fitness of things that the Punjab government's massive cancer detection drive begins in Faridkot. Indeed, the government's move that involves 50,000 personnel is a step in the right direction, and the drive is expected to cover the entire state soon. Since detection alone is not an answer to the problem, the state government has done well to include relief right from the date of diagnosis. The provisions with regard to an additional sanction of money for more serious cases of cancer and transfer of funds from one hospital to the other referral hospital too seem to be in the interest of patients. But, as is the case with many other government programmes, the real test would lie in the actual implementation of the ambitious drive.
No doubt, the classic adage "a stitch in time saves nine" applies as much to cancer as to any other aspect of life. Early detection of cancer can go a long way in saving lives. In a state where villages like Jajjal in Bathinda district remain in complete denial of the disease, indeed awareness holds the key. At the same time, remedial steps taken by the government can help combat the battle against cancer, provided it ensures that benefits reach the patients. While the Punjab government has been disbursing cancer relief for some time now, it was found a year ago that nearly 90 per cent of the cancer grant in Bhatinda remained unutilised.
Apart from monetary relief, what the state badly needs is requisite medical infrastructure like government-aided speciality cancer hospitals to deal with the deadly disease. The dismal reality is that till today people from the region have to seek treatment outside the state in places like Bikaner. The issue of high incidence of cancer figured in the election manifesto of political parties. The government, which has ignored cancer for too long, has to deliver on its promise and not by knee-jerk announcements but through concerted and all-encompassing many-pronged measures.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment