the goan I network
PANAJI
Pharmaceutical manufacturer, Indoco Remedies, has taken it upon itself to spread awareness about early detection of oral cancer through a campaign in Goa in 2019.
This was informed at a press conference, which saw the presence of Dr Shekhar Salkar, chief of department of oncology, Manipal Hospital Goa, Dr Nimish Pillai, chief medical officer, MPT Hospital, Dr Eugene Rent, cancer surgeon, Manipal Hospital Goa and Samir Daini, senior deputy general manager, corporate relations, Indoco Remedies.
Dr Salkar said, “India is the capital of oral cancer in the world due to very high number of cases being reported here. In Goa, oral cancer accounts for 25% of all cancer cases. However, oral cancer is easily diagnosable. Moreover, it has much higher survival rates than other types of cancer.”
“Indoco Remedies is going to conduct awareness campaigns about oral cancer in 2019. Under which, we will have nine training sessions for doctors like dentists to train them so that they can identify oral cancer cases early. We will also go to the people of Goa. We will have 11 sessions for people all across the State to make them more aware about oral cancer,” Dr Salkar added.
Dr Salkar further said that they even have plans to train the teams at primary health care centres and also people at Anganwadis about oral cancer so that they can spread the word in even remote areas of the State.
It was further informed that tobacco is the leading cause of oral cancer in India. Apart from it, consumption of ghutka can also lead to the disease.
If a person is feeling any pain or bleeding in the mouth or has an ulcer in the mouth, which is not healing, then he or she must go to a doctor to rule out the possibility of oral cancer.
The five-year survival rate among patients with Stage 1 and Stage 2 oral cancer is 75 to 80 percent, which shows that a lot of patients can survive provided the disease is diagnosed early.
