100 participants from 85 centres took part in the event
The National Cancer Grid (NCG) recently held its 6th meeting at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. The meeting was attended by over 100 participants from 85 centres. Directors from 80 cancer centres, research institutes, patient groups and charitable organisations also took part in the event.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), took part in the event as the advisor. Dr Swaminathan was strongly supportive of the NCG undertaking several important research studies in common and unique cancers in India looking at cost-effective interventions to improve outcomes. She also suggested that the ICMR and the NCG should work together in collecting data on the cancer burden in India. She commended the NCG for this unique collaborative initiative, and emphasised that data sharing and collaborative research were imperative for medical progress.
Major milestones set to redefine cancer care in India were announced during the meet. They were:
- 22 draft guidelines for the most common cancers in India
- Formalised SOPs for peer review of network centres
- Surgical pathology web-based EQAS programme (The NCG is offering an external quality assessment service in surgical pathology free to all the constituent centres. It is likely to improve the quality of pathology reporting, which is the very backbone of cancer care)
- Creation of a travelling School of Pathology that aims to provide high quality training in to cancer centres in remote areas beginning with the North East
- Strong recommendation for creation of a basic palliative care centre in each cancer centre with minimum basic infrastructure
- Establishment of the National Virtual Tumour Board with a critical mass of experts that will advise on complex cases thereby virtually bringing high-quality expert cancer care to the patient’s doorstep
- Establishment of the National Cancer library that will now provide free access to over 100 cancer journals to every member.
Dr RA Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, said, “Providing equitable, accessible and affordable cancer care is a prime objective of the NCG. We are working towards making the same standards of cancer care available at patients’ doorsteps, thereby eliminating the need for travelling long distances to access care unnecessary. This collaboration also lends itself to aggregating data from a large number of cancer patients, thereby improving the efficiency of cancer research.”
Dr Preetha Rajaraman, South Asia Program Director, US National Cancer Institute said, “The NCG is a landmark initiative. The power of over 80 cancer treatment centres speaking as one voice has the capacity to completely change the landscape regarding cancer treatment, awareness and research in India.”
Dr CS Pramesh, Professor and Chief, Thoracic Surgery, Tata Memorial Hospital and coordinator of the NCG, said, “The NCG is a unique initiative by the Government of India funded through the Department of Atomic Energy. It was conceived with an aim to provide the same standards of cancer care across India regardless of the social, economic, or geographic constraints. Several initiatives have been undertaken with this objective including adopting uniform evidence-based treatment guidelines for various cancers, a system of peer review of institutions and quality assurance projects in pathology and radiation oncology. There has been a high level of support from the directors of all cancer centres, with a strong commitment to raise the overall standards of cancer care in India.”
EH News Bureau