DM Paediatric Oncology super-speciality course to start in Govt Cancer Hospital

Aurangabad, Aug 28:

The Government Cancer Hospital (GCH) of the city was given permission to start a super-speciality ‘DM Paediatric Oncology’ course. This is the first ever Government Hospital in the State to get approval for the course which will have four seats.

Dean of Projects in Tata Memorial Center (TMC) Dr Kailash Sharma said he envisaged this course 10 years ago when he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Medical Council of India (MCI) and first introduced it at Tata Cancer Institute (TCI) in the country in the year 2012 -13 with three postgraduates.

Dr Kailash Sharma said earlier there was only a ‘Medical Oncology super speciality course’ in which MD Medicine and MD Paediatrics candidates were eligible to join.

“I felt that cancers in children should be handled by superspecialists who have basic training in Paediatrics, as children with cancer have special problems. After this, three other colleges in the country started the course, GCH of Aurangabad is the fifth. There were only 18 postgraduate seats in the country. With four new seats, their number will go up to 22.

The super-speciality course in the GCH is very satisfying, after helping to set up other courses like Radiotherapy, Surgical Oncology, Neonatology and even Geriatrics,” he said.

He said that he was making available Rs 1 crore through CSR for the Paediatric Oncology ward, for developing its interior child-friendly and pleasant, along with an AC glass cabin, in which children can play.

“Also, the students admitted for this course will get six months posting at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, as a part of special training. By this, we will try to strengthen the cancer services and education at GCH which is very close to my heart and mind,” he added.

Officer on Special Duty of Cancer Hospital Dr Arvind Gaikwad expressed gratitude to Commissioner Virendra Singh, Director Medical Education and Research Dr Dilip Mhaisekar, Dr Kailash Sharma, Dean Dr Varsha Rote Kaginalkar for their all assistance in the project. “Our staff worked hard to pass the National Medical Commission inspection. The team under Dr Bhattacharya and Dr Shiraz Baig conducted a mock inspection and guided us. We are expanding our Cancer Hospital and this speciality will get a special ward,” he added.

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Dr Aditi Lingayat, a professor of Paediatrics Oncology said that it is a DM super speciality course for specialised treatment of cancer patients from 0-14 years of age.

On the point of how will it help, she said that childhood cancers have doubled in India in the last 10 years.

“Cancers in children are diagnosed late-and the mortality is high. It is 40-70 per cent in untreated cases or those who come late. So, there was a need for a specialised course,” she said

Dr Aditi Lingayat said that half of the cases are blood-related- leukaemia and lymphomas while

the rest are solid tumours-like kidney, eye, bone, liver, germ cells etc.

“Services like diagnosis, treatment like chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy are provided at the hospital. NGOs like ‘Samata Foundation’ and ‘Cankid’ help the patients too. This course will start for the first time in a Government Medical College in the State though Dr Kailash Sharma who started it first in Tata Memorial Hospital in 2012. They have 6 postgraduate seats now. Trained manpower is needed for carrying out specialised treatment. We will get the staff through the four postgraduates who will join every year. Residents are the backbone of the round-the-clock care of patients. The research will improve and we can start bone marrow transplants in the future,” she asserted.

The professor of Paediatrics Oncology said childhood cancers are curable if detected early.

On the early symptoms of cancers, she said anaemia, swellings in the neck or abdomen or limbs, bleeding spots on the skin, bleeding from the nose, white spot in the eye, etc. “We will carry out health education for practitioners too, so that, they will refer cases early to our department,” she said.