Prolonged lockdown will lead to new cancer cases in Northeast: Health Experts

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Health experts have warned that prolonged lockdown might result in an alarming rise of new cancer cases in the North East.

The warning has come after a large number of cancer patients are not able to avail treatment at the B. Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) and other cancer care centres in the region owing to the ongoing lockdown. Many patients are even missing their chemotherapy treatment which has raised the fear of more cancer deaths particularly in Assam.

The BBCI, the lone full-fledged cancer institute in NE, has witnessed a decline in the number of patients to avail treatment due to the ongoing lockdown. The Radiology department of the institute has been receiving between 150 and 160 patients daily against 320 to 330 patients who had availed the treatment on a regular basis prior to lockdown. The number of patients coming to BBCI for chemotherapy and surgery has become less than 50 percent due to lockdown.

“The development has implied that many cancer patients have not been able to come to BBCI to receive treatment. This is an alarming development; and might give rise to new cancer cases, delayed treatment to already existing patients and resultant deaths,” BBCI director Dr Amal Chandra Kataki told The Sentinel on Thursday.

Dr Kataki said that the present development will also lead to delayed diagnosis of cancer patients. He added that there might be many asymptomatic and symptomatic cases going undiagnosed and untreated as the patients have not been able to come out of their homes for treatment.

According to Dr Kataki, the BBCI has been successful in treating patients who developed early signs of cancer just before the lockdown was clamped in March. He said his institute has also started contact tracing of around 7,000 cancer patients (availed treatment in the past) to know of their present health status.

“The immune system of cancer patients always remains fragile; and thus they need constant touch of doctors for counseling and advice. Through contact tracing and tele-counseling, the BBCI doctors are trying to help many patients to remain mentally and emotionally strong to fight cancer during the lockdown,” Dr Kataki said.

An oncologist at the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital said that prolonged lockdown might prove disastrous for cancer patients — especially those living in the remote and rural areas. “Many patients in Guwahati have not been able to go outside the State for advanced treatment due to the lockdown,” he said.

According to the latest report of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the north-eastern region is witnessing an alarming rise in the number of cancer patients in the recent years. As per that report, the Northeast India has the highest incidence of cancer in the country.

While the national average of reported cancer incidences is 80-110 cases per lakh population, this number varies between 150 and 200 cases per lakh in NE. With cancer incidence rates at double the national average, calling Northeast India ‘the cancer capital’ is no longer an exaggeration. Northeast India is gradually emerging as the cancer hub.

“The lifestyle-related cancers top the chart in the NE region which has an overall high incidence of cancer in India. Data from different population-based cancer registries in the country show that the most common cancers in men are that of the lung, mouth, oesophagus, stomach and nasopharynx, while the most common cancers in women are that of breast, cervix, uterus, oesophagus and lung within this regional belt. All these cancers are linked to extremely high lifestyle-related risk factors,” another oncologist said.

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