Cancer has become one of the biggest public health problems facing India today. With the annual number of new cancer cases in India projected to nearly double in the next two decades, political commitment to address the complex problems presented by the disease is urgently needed, according to a major new report on cancer care in India published in The Lancet Oncology and led by a partnership of King’s College London and the National Cancer Grid of India, bringing together India’s cancer leaders and a distinguished international faculty including the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Centre for Global Health.
The new report, a three-part series on cancer burden and health systems in India, was led by Professor Richard Sullivan and Professor Arnie Purushotham from King’s Health Partners Cancer Centre at King’s College London with senior Indian colleagues including Professor CS Pramesh and Professor Rajan Badwe at the Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Mumbai. The series arises from King’s Health Partners Cancer Centre six year strategic partnership with the Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Mumbai, and King’s College London’s engagement in India, especially through King’s India Institute.
Professor Sullivan, series coordinator and lead author of the series paper on cancer research in India, said, “Cancer research needs to be central to plans for national cancer control, and cancer needs to be one of the focuses of national research agendas and priorities. An increased focus on research activity in India could bring benefits not only to the one million patients in India who are newly diagnosed with cancer every year, but also to people with cancer all over the world. But India will only fulfil its global potential for cancer research if major funding agencies in India commit to supporting prospective clinical research and trials into all major methods of cancer prevention and control.”
Professor Mohandas Mallath, Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, India, lead author of the series paper on the growing burden of cancer in India said, “The need for political commitment and action is at the heart of the solution to India’s growing cancer burden. The extent to which death and illness from cancer will actually increase in the next 20 years will depend a lot on the investments made in future decades in tobacco control, healthcare delivery, cancer research, clinical trials, and increasing the public awareness as to how we can all help to reduce the risk of cancer by eliminating risky behaviours such as smoking, vaccinating those at risk of cancer causing infections and following a healthy diet and lifestyle. Most district hospitals and even regional cancer centres do not have the facilities needed to provide quality cancer care to the people who need them.”
Professor Pramesh, lead author of the series paper on delivery of affordable and equitable cancer care in India, said, “Because of the extremely low level of government and state funding for healthcare in India, a cancer diagnosis is increasingly responsible for catastrophic expenditures from the patients’ own pockets, which has the potential to negatively affect not only the individual with cancer, but also the welfare and education of several generations of their family. Delivering affordable and equitable care for cancer is one of India’s greatest public health challenges – but it is a challenge we must rise to if we are to mitigate the devastating economic and human costs that this disease is already exerting on our nation.”
Professor Sunil Khilnani, Director, King’s India Institute, King’s College London, said, “Access to affordable cancer treatment and care in India lags behind other parts of the world. Making such treatment and care accessible will require addressing its causes, while also developing affordable treatments. Both are areas that still require considerable research that can shape India’s health policy, and which equally hold lessons for cancer treatment more globally. At the King’s India Institute, we are focused on directing high-quality research towards policy outcomes, and we are therefore delighted that two distinguished members of the Institute’s Associate Faculty, Professor Arnie Purushotham and Professor Richard Sullivan of King’s Health Partners and King’s College London, have taken the lead in building a very fruitful research collaboration with colleagues in India at the renowned Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Mumbai. We look forward to promoting this research in India, and hope that it will contribute to India’s policy options in the critical area of health.”
Professor Purushotham, Director of King’s Health Partners Cancer Centre, King’s College London, said, “This comprehensive series of articles on cancer research, the growing burden of cancer and delivery of affordable and equitable cancer care in India is the culmination of a strong partnership between King’s College London/King’s Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, the National Cancer Grid of Indian Cancer Centres led by the Tata Memorial Cancer Centre and the NCI Centre for Global Health. This partnership has set the scene by describing the current state of cancer in India, identified areas of immediate and long-term need and laid down a blueprint for central and state governments to help prioritise issues and deliver solutions to the vast population of cancer sufferers in India. Some of these solutions should be uniquely tailored to India’s infrastructure and the needs of its population. The challenge for all is to ensure the implementation of an ambitious programme of healthcare to cancer patients in India.”
EH News Bureau
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