A medical expert claims early diagnosis can help treat many childhood cancer cases in India. These kinds of cancers reportedly range between 80 to 260 per million population in India. Cancers related to the brain and blood are the most common forms of the disease. Boys are more prone to leukaemia and lymphoma, while girls tend to be more affected by leukaemia and brain tumours.
“Childhood cancers have better chances of cure as they are more responsive to treatment. In developed nations, the cure rate for childhood cancer is 80%. This plunges to just 40 per cent in developing nations like India," Dr Amit Jotwani, an oncologist, told a news portal. Adding "The incidence of childhood cancers in India is quite low compared to the total number of adult patients. Because of this, the infrastructure for treatment of childhood cancer patients is lacking in the country, even though they require more intensive care and monitoring than adult patients."
The quality of childhood cancer care is largely affected because there aren't many centres that are providing specialised treatment for this purpose, according to experts. That is why Onco.com, an online cancer care platform,announced they will be providing cancer consultations for free for children under 14-years-old. "We believe that no child should ever die of cancer, especially when it can be treated with a high degree of success," Rashie Jain, co-founder & CEO of Onco.com.
Dr Jotwani, who is also the co-founder of Onco.com and Chief of Medical Services, explains the factors that predict the survival rates of these young patients. "There is not enough mortality data for childhood cancers in India. However, there are three major causes of death in children with cancer: delayed diagnosis at advanced stage; lack of adequate treatment facilities; and lack of proper care during treatment. Less than 30 per centchildhood cancers in India get diagnosed in time, which adversely affects the young patient’s chances for a cure.”
Experts want more people to be aware of the facts of childhood cancer so there is no delay in diagnosis. "Even when a child is diagnosed with cancer, many parents think that cancer cannot be cured and do not make enough effort at treatment. Little do they realize that childhood cancers actually have much higher chances of cure than adulthood cancers," Rashie Jain, who is also part of the online cancer care platform, told a news portal. Adding,“As a society, we need to increase awareness about childhood cancers so that both parents and doctors do not miss this disease in its early stages."
