PANAJI
Goa’s cancer care is set for a partial upgrade, but experts warn chemotherapy expansion alone does not make the cut.
Earlier this week, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane announced that daycare chemotherapy centres will open at both district hospitals by June 11, but experts and senior oncologists say the State’s premier institution, Goa Medical College (GMC), continues to rely on a 30‘year‘old cobalt machine for radiation therapy -- a crucial treatment needed in nearly half of cancer cases. They argue that without modern radiotherapy facilities, Goa’s fight against cancer remains woefully inadequate.
Goa does not have a cancer registry but available estimates show the State records nearly 1,700 new cancer cases annually, with gastrointestinal and breast cancers leading the list.
But radiation therapy remains the missing pillar. Retired professor Dr Roque Wiseman Pinto and several other senior doctors point out that GMC’s outdated cobalt system causes more side effects and lacks the precision of modern techniques.
"Across India, Linear Accelerators, brachytherapy, image‘guided radiation and stereotactic radiosurgery are now routine," Dr Pinto said even as he points out that GMC has seen no major upgrade since its radiotherapy department was set up three decades ago.
"Radiation therapy is not only curative but also palliative, used to shrink tumours, relieve pain and reduce pressure on vital organs. Sessions typically run five days a week for six weeks, making travel outside Goa exhausting for patients," he said.
Several senior doctors in service at the GMC as well as oncologists in private practice agree as many patients are forced to seek advanced radiation treatment at Manipal Hospital in Dona Paula and other healthcare institutions in Belgaum, Mumbai or Bengaluru.
"Goa urgently needs at least a modern 'Linear Accelerator' at GMC. Goan patients deserve better cancer care and should not be compelled to leave the State for timely radiation treatment,” said a senior oncologist in private practice who wished not to be identified.
The new chemotherapy centres the minister has announced are a welcome progress, but unless radiation oncology is modernised, experts warn, Goa’s cancer patients will continue to face incomplete care and unnecessary hardship of having to travel beyond the State's borders.
