In a bid to check the menace of Cancer from the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badaltoday gave a green signal to launch a month long “State Wide Awareness and Symptom Based Early Detection Door to Door Campaign” on pilot basis in Faridkot district from October 2, which would be later extended in the entire state during the month of December. The biggest ever door to door campaign involving more than 50,000 personnel touching more than 1.25 crore population directly would be a unique exercise not only in this country but at international level. Presiding over a high level meeting with the senior officers from the departments of Health & Family Welfare and Medical Education & Research, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences besides the representatives of Medical Council of India and World Health Organization, Badal assured the team of specialists working on this prestigious project that paucity of funds would not allowed to hamper the progress of this mission. Showing satisfaction over the recently mega-medical camps held in Malwa belt, Badal said that these camps would be replicated in the Border and Kandi areas also, where the people were living in extremely difficult conditions especially owing to inaccessible medical services. He hoped such camps would be beneficial in providing the best diagnostic and health care services at their door steps. The Chief Minister also agreed to the proposal put forth by the Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare to extend the state level campaign in other parts of the state also from December after analyzing the experience in the aforesaid pilot project in Faridkot district. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister directed the Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa who was also present in the meeting to immediate release the requisite funds to the Health & Family Welfare department so that these could in turn be placed at the disposal of medical colleges in the state to ensure quick and hassle free treatment to the cancer patients. Elaborating the cancer awareness campaign to be launched across the state, the Principal Secretary Health & Family Welfare Mrs. Vinni Mahajan informed the Chief Minister that the state Health & Family Welfare department, in association with the Medical Education and Research department had proposed several path breaking initiatives in this direction which were instantly approved by Badal in the meeting. It may be recalled that the State government has taken various steps to mitigate the suffering of the cancer patients and consequently a Chief Minister Cancer Relief Fund has been set up with an initial amount of Rs. 20 crore, which has already supported the treatment of 4744 cancer patients across the state. Vinni Mahajan further apprised the Chief Minister that there were certain bottle necks in the disbursement of Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh Funds which have been thoroughly examined in the state level meetings and necessary steps to make it more patient-friendly and hassle free have been initiated. She said that there would now be no gap between the diagnosis of cancer and the start of treatment, as the sanction of the amount from the Rahat Kosh would be from the date of final diagnosis. In the case of State Medical Colleges, whenever a patient of cancer was diagnosed by the college, a Committee of the College would be empowered to directly send the case to the state level sanctioning committee of the Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh. Empanelled hospitals may begin treatment immediately after taking a security deposit from the patient, which shall be refunded after the relief was sanctioned from the date on which treatment begins. If the disease progresses such that treatment cost goes up beyond the original estimate, additional amount shall be sanctioned up to the maximum admissible amount of Rs. 1.5 lakh. Another patient friendly initiative was that, if a patient being treated by one hospital was required to be referred to another empanelled hospital, the balance amount with the previous hospital shall stand transferred to the referee hospital.
Mrs. Vinni Mahajan also informed that a special committee of Medical specialists and experts entrusted with this project would be constituted soon to assess the availability of requisite infrastructure and trained manpower in terms of competent faculty in the empanelled hospitals, whether these were competent enough to provide the required diagnostic and treatment facilities to the cancer patients. On the directions of the Chief Minister, the Department of Health & Family Welfare has also prepared a plan to drastically reduce the cost of cancer Drugs by inviting tenders for generic versions of the requisite cancer drugs. The list of drugs had been worked out by cancer experts, including those from PGI. It was expected that the process of competent bidding would bring down the rates substantially. The burden of purchase of the medicine by the cancer patient has been removed and shifted to the concerned hospitals, who have agreed to shoulder the responsibility by leaving 6% services charges. Even for the diagnostics, the empaneled hospitals have been made to agree to provide 25% rebate on their own rates or to charge the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) rates whichever was less. Efforts were being made to empanel the DiagnosisCentres, so as to reduce the costs of the tests from the market, she added.
Taking part in the deliberations, the Chairman Medical Council of India Dr. KK Talwar emphasised the need to evolve a monitoring system to have fair assessment about the success of this program and if need be corrective steps must be taken forthwith to make it more effective and responsive to the advantage of the patients. Making a power point presentation Executive Director of State Health Systems Resource Center Punjab Dr. PL Garg apprised the Chief Minister that the Cancer had become a household word in Punjab, with horrific tales common in the media. He said that the incidence of cancer was extremely high in Punjab especially in the cotton belt of Malwa Region though there was yet no scientific evidence to support this. According to Dr. Garg in order to generate awareness about the warning signs of cancer and risk factors, a state wide campaign named and styled as Cancer Awareness and Symptom Based Early Diagnosis Door to Door Campaign was being launched wherein 45,000 Field Workers shall be visiting all the 54 lakh households both in the rural as well as in the urban areas. During this campaign the residents of 12,603 villages and 217 census towns of Punjab shall be made aware about the risk factors of cancer as well as warning signs. Persons complaining of warning symptoms would be taken to the Primary Health Centres (PHCs)/Civil Dispensaries (CDs)/ Community Health Centres (CHCs)/ Sub pisional Hospitals (SDHs) and District Hospitals (DHs), and if found positive, to Government Medical College Facilities for final diagnosis. The treatment shall be funded through the Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh.It was also informed in the meeting that during this campaign even the existing cancer patients shall be identified and their rapport shall be established with the nearest hospital through the link worker i.e. ASHA/ANM, so that they may avail emergency medical care near to the door step. This campaign shall also help find the mortality burden in the state due to cancer in the last five years. The whole exercise has been planned after extensive consultations with the experts of medical profession from PGIMER Chandigarh, State Medical Colleges and other Medical Colleges and Cancer Institutes. A booklet for the guidance of the field workers has been prepared in Punjabi and also a hand-out on warning sign/symptoms has been brought out to be distributed door to door during the campaign.The patients who turn out to be suspects would be taken to a Government Health Facility after identification through this campaign and shall be given free diagnostic and treatment facilities available in the Government Setup. This campaign shall also endeavour to make the people aware about the Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh and the procedure to avail it. However, through this campaign, there is likelihood that 20,000-25,000 cases of cancer may be identified for whom the Mukh Mantri Cancer Rahat Kosh shall have to be enhanced accordingly.This campaign shall also act as motivator for the Field Worker and the Medical Staff in the service of the patients and act as a catalyst of capacity building. During the campaign, the health department would also come to know the deficiencies required to be removed. Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Chief Parliamentary Secretary Health & Family Welfare Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister KJS Cheema, Vice Chancellor Baba Faird University of Health Sciences Dr. SS GII, Principal Secretary Medical Education & Research Mrs. Anjali Bhawra, MD Punjab System Health Corporation Mrs. Raji P.Srivastva, MD National Rural Health Mission Kamal Chaudhary, Secretary Expenditure Dalip Kumar and Director Health & Family Welfare Dr. Ashok Nayyar.