New Delhi: Cancer care needs to ‘metastasize’, to use illness’s lingo, as cancer cells spread in the body, to square up with ever growing needs of cancer treatment in India. Sonali Bendre shocker must make people wide awake to the harsh reality of ubiquitous disease.
Through from fine Bollywood actor Irfan Khan to leading Lady Sonali Bendre and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parikar not long ago, the creepy C-word has asserted its prevalence with ruthless regularity. And that, the ‘curve ball’, as Bendre has phrased it, may be lurking inside anybody. But the harsher reality is that India, including Delhi- NCR; we are woefully unequal to the huge cancer burden, jacking up by the day.
Oncoplus, a custom made cancer care project, pitches itself to multiply and maximise quality treatment facilities in Delhi-NCR. The project entails aggregation of all global grade cancer treatment protocols in the region. Oncoplus has really emerged as a one- stop shop for cancer patients in just 2 years of its being. The stated aim is no one feels the need to go abroad for treatment.
Buoyed up by the excellent outcome figures in his Defence Colony hospital, the resolve of Sahil Gupta, Co- Founder and Director of Oncoplus, to upscale facilities has firmed up. In such a brief period, the Oncoplus hospital can boast of 70 patients in remission and 167 patients (and growing) under treatment. The figures speak a volume about quality of care out there.
Talking to Medicare News, Mr Sahil, a strategic thinker with proven ability and perspective to analyse supply and demand based scenario objectively, says, ‘Hopefully, Sonali Bendre shocker might take cancer out of the shadows and people, especially in rural areas, stop tending to hide it, looking at it as a social stigma.’
Mr Gupta further says, ‘Though the news of Sonali Bendre being down with cancer, that too in 4th stage, is disquieting, the shocker in one fell swoop has led fear making a deep dent in the psyche of teeming millions in the country, given the omnipresent broadcasting tools. But this jolt can become an opportunity if people can be made to understand that cancer might be zeroing in on any one of them. The takeaways from Bendre case should be- it is no stigma at all; cancer caught early means better chance of cure and screening alone can help pre-empt it.’
Referring to a study ‘Call for Action’ by Ernst and Young, a professional Services firm, Mr Sahil laments the utter lack of cancer care facilities in India. Mr Gupta says, ‘Given the huge cancer burden in India and counting, any number of new beds added will seem trifle. India, including Delhi and NCR, is woefully ill equipped to measure up to huge cancer challenge. Lest cancer numbers badly overwhelm our health infra, India needs to put its acts together.’
Mr Gupta, astute at evolving and implementing strategies, adds, ‘It would be to stress the obvious saying that Cancer has assumed epidemic proportions in India. Here, we need 5000 day care beds added to Indian healthcare system only for chemotherapy. Currently, meagre 450 are being added. In Oncoplus, 15 admissions happen daily, 50 percent for surgical oncology and 50 percent for medical oncology. It shows how menacingly cancer is baring its fang’
As for high points, Chemotherapy is practised as an art at Oncoplus to alleviate its side effects. Mr Gupta adds, ‘Chemotherapy may be a word of fear but not in Oncoplus. Anti-Cancer drugs known as Chemotherapy have its own good and adverse effects on body. However, to minimize such adverse effects it is so very essential to understand and administrate right drugs, accurate dosage which are kept in right temperature and mixed in supervision of an expert.
Oncoplus has a very specific chemo mixing facility where an expert pharmacist does this on environment friendly bio safety cabinet and whole procedure is carried out in transparent manner to educate and make you the part of treatment. Our consultants with their years of experience advice chemotherapy procedure in such a manner that during or post chemo, the chances of reverse effects are reduced or completely avoided.’
Mr Gupta imports the idea from a renowned Healthcare Company which mulled establishing 400 cardiac and cancer centres in Australia. While working with consulting company Frost and Sullivan in Singapore, he was deeply involved with the project. The project finally was not found viable in Down Under but Mr Sahil has resolved to extrapolate the project to India.
Oncoplus Cancer Care Centre is a dedicated and a specialised oncology unit, which provides extensive cancer prevention with breakthrough anti-cancer medicines and treatment. It boasts of a state-of-the-art infrastructure with internationally approved equipment and a highly dedicated & competent team of experienced and reputed oncologists and physicians. It is fully Wi-Fi enabled and operates on the latest Oncology Oriented Software to ensure patient confidentiality.
