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Towering NCP leader RR Patil loses battle against cancer

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former state home minister RR Patil succumbed to a long battle with cancer at Lilavati Hospital on Monday.

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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former state home minister RR Patil succumbed to a long battle with cancer at Lilavati Hospital on Monday.

The 57-year-old politician was fighting oral cancer and had been in hospital since January. According to doctors treating him, his condition deteriorated on Monday morning and he suffered multiple organ failure. Doctors said that though they tried their best to resuscitate him, the NCP leader passed away in the afternoon.

The former deputy chief minister had been frequenting hospitals since last year. In December, he had to be rushed to the Bombay Hospital in Marine Lines with symptoms of cardiac arrest. The doctors, however, did not find any underlying heart condition. He was unable to attend the entire state assembly session held in Nagpur in December 2014 due to a swollen jaw. He was treated at Breach Candy hospital for couple of weeks for severe dental ailments.

A six-term member of Legislative Assembly from Tasgaon in Sangli district, Patil had a long-time habit of chewing tobacco. He started undergoing treatment for cancer at Lilavati Hospital in January. Doctors said that his condition had deteriorated very fast and the cancer had spread across his body, due to which he was kept in the ICU for a long time. Later in the month, the hospital issued a press release assuring that his condition was improving and he was responding to treatment. Over the past month, he had successfully undergone radiation therapy and chemotherapy sessions were on.

Reacting to the news of Patil's death, Dr Pankaj Chaturvedia, oral cancer surgeon from Tata Cancer Hospital said, "Today Maharashtra lost a wonderful person and a great minister. He succumbed while being treated for advanced oral cancer. Every year, one lakh Indians are diagnosed with oral cancers. 50 per cent die within 12 months of detection. It is India's no. 1 cancer and leading cause of cancer related deaths in Indian men. It is entirely due to tobacco and supari. Twenty-two per cent of adults in Maharashtra chew tobacco. The government must enforce a gutka/pan masala ban strictly to stop this man-made epidemic."

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