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Over 100 doctors to help intensify virtual war on cancer

A multi- disciplinary team, each sitting in a different hospital anywhere in the country will give their suggestions on a complicated case online

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Health experts release the ‘Mumbai declaration’ on the final day of the three-day-conference
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On Sunday, 30th January, the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) formally launched the virtual tumour board, which will connect doctors from 96 medical institutions across the country that are a part of the National Cancer Grid (NCG). As part of the board, over 100 doctors will come online every week to discuss complicated cases and seek suggestions from experts.

Dr CS Pramesh, Professor and Chief of Thoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgical Oncology at TMC said,“It’s been established beyond doubt that treatment outcomes are much better when a group of experts decide on treatment procedure.” A multi- disciplinary team, which may include radiologist, surgical oncologist or even an expert in palliative care, each sitting in a different hospital anywhere in the country will give their suggestions on a complicated case online.

“The challenge is to coordinate the schedules of all the doctors to make sure they are online at the same time,” he said. At present, two 120-minute sessions take place every Saturday. The idea is to scale up and have daily sessions.

Forty per cent of the hospitals that are a part of the NCG are private. The rest are public hospitals, research organisations and charitable institutions. TMC acts as a mentor to these organisations.

“Many junior doctors or those from smaller hospitals, too, come up with innovative suggestions, drawing from their clinical experience. The idea is that there is strength in the numbers,” Pramesh said.

With its 96 institutions on board, NCG reaches out to five lakh patients, which forms 50 per cent of India’s cancer burden.

THE DECLARATION

At the end of the three-day conference on ‘Healthcare: A commodity or basic human need?’, health experts released Mumbai declaration, which asks the union, state and municipal governments to commit to providing Universal Health Coverage with immediate effect.
Some of the key demands are:

  • To increase Central Government allocation of funds to healthcare from 1.4 per cent to 3 percent of the GDP
     
  • Prioritise preventive strategies such as immunisation, healthy lifestyle and nutrition
     
  • Offer easy access to palliative care
     
  • Leverage technology to improve efficiency, cost-effectiveness and skill enhancement
     
  • Promote health as an important issue in public discourse
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