No story about the Cancer Institute, Adyar ,
located on a sprawling 9 acres campus, next to IIT Madras, in Chennai, can be complete without a meeting
with the living legend of the Institute, the Magsaysay Award winner, Padma
Bhushan Dr. V Shantha. Infact the
Institute and Dr Shantha have become synonymous with each other over the years,
because of her tremendous contribution to the phenomenal growth of the Institute
against several odds.
I met her at her small office in
the old campus of the Institute in Gandhi Nagar. A diminutive lady who looks a little frail at
85, but still displays the same enthusiasm and energy when she talks about her
favourite ‘temple’. During the course of
the interview she admits that she does not believe in going to temples as she considers the Cancer Institute, where she
has served for 60 long years, as her temple.
I responded that for lakhs of
cancer patients who come with hopes in their hearts to the hospital she and her team of dedicated doctors are like
‘Gods’, for which she smiled. She also mentioned that she is never tired of talking about the
institute and its growth story, the trials and tribulations that it has gone through
before reaching the pre-eminent position it has
reached today, in Cancer care.
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Cancer Institute (WIA) was founded in 1952 as a
voluntary charitable institute by Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy, first Indian woman to
graduate in medicine, who was also the
first woman to become a member and subsequently the Vice President of Madras Legislative
Assembly. Loss of her young sister to cancer affected her deeply
which propelled her to institute a Cancer Relief Fund in 1949.
It took her
several years to translate her dream of
having a speciality hospital for Cancer to serve the growing number of poor
patients. With relentless pursuit she managed to get a narrow strip of two acre
land abetting the Buckingham Canal in Gandhi Nagar, Adyar. With the support of
the Women’s India Association (WIA) of which she was a President for 30 long
years. she started the first Cancer
Hospital in South India at Gandhi Nagar, Adyar. The foundation stone of the
hospital was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal in Nehru in 1952 and inaugurated on 18th
June,1954 by the then Finance Minster of the Government of India Shri
C.D.Deshmukh. The facility with just 12 beds in a small hut was run right from
the inception by Dr. S Krishnamoorthy(son of Dr.Muthulaxmi who
passed away in 2010), and Dr. V Shantha (both
of whom were earlier working with the
Government General Hospital) doubling
themselves as doctors and assistants in the initial years.
Since the death of Dr. Reddy in July 1968 both fought
against all odds to keep the facility going,
According to Dr.Shantha right
from the beginning it has been a running battle between supportive and non supportive
governments. . Since the hospital is
totally dependent on donations , in the initial years getting money to run the
Institute was itself a stupendous task.
But thanks to the generosity of both
Corporate and individual donors and the dedicated team, the hospital has
made tremendous strides and is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee this year, which
was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of
Tamilnadu on 12 th June,2013.
The hospital which had a single building with minimal diagnostic and therapeutic facilities has now become the
Comprehensive Care Centre for Cancer, comprising
of a 450 bed hospital, a very active Research division, Dr. Muthulakshmi
College of Oncologic Sciences and a Division of Preventive Oncology.
The patients, mostly poor from across the country, come with
fear in their minds but hope in their
hearts. Every day the institute
registers over 410 cases out of which nearly 80% are poor, who are given totally
free or highly subsidized treatment by the hospital.
The hospital treated over 1,40,000 patients in 2012,
a phenomenal jump of over 60% from a
figure of 85000 patients it treated in
2000, reflecting the growing incident of
the dreaded disease in the country.
.
Today`s Research, Tomorrow`s Treatment
Dr . Shantha was proud to talk
about the Research Centre in the hospital which
is recognized as a Centre of Excellence by the Department of Science and
Technology of Government of India and comprises Molecular Oncology, Electron Microscopy,
Immuno Hematology and a Tumor bank
including Pathology. Intense research is also going on in the Institue for finding a vaccine for prevention of
cancer.
Another area which the department is researching is the ‘gene profiling`’ of the disease, literally
creating a horoscope of the disease for each patient.
Dispelling the concept of miracles in
cancer cure, Dr.Shantha said that all
improvements in this area were a result of modern science, which today can
provide ‘targeted treatment` for different types of cancers, resulting in
a much higher success rate. Today the disease can be diagnosed even at
the molecular stage (without any sort of growth / tumor or physical appearance,
as such). If diagnosed early 65% of the Cancer cases can be treated and
the patients can lead a normal life. It is no more a Killer disease as it was
in the early years, because of the tremendous strides made in researching the area of Oncology.
Education & Training
The
institute introduced the concept of
Oncology as a Super Speciality as
early as 1982 and started the first
Super Speciality College in Oncology – Dr. Muthulaxmi College of Oncologic
Sciences in 1984. The Institute
affiliated to Dr. MGR Medical University and Madras University offers courses
in Surgical Oncology, Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology. Every year 18 students covering the three specialized
fields pass out of the college. The college also offers para professional
training covering a wide variety of support services.
“I
am happy to tell you that thanks to the efforts of the Institute in the area of
education and professional training in cancer care, today cancer Hospitals
across the country have doctors and support staff who have been trained at the
Institute and who are all doing well.” Dr.Shantha referred to one Dr. Ravi
Kumar, who moved out of the Institute to start a new Cancer Speciality Hospital
in Silchar, Assam to provide free or subsidized cancer care to poorer patients there with support and guidance
from Cancer Institute , Adyar.
Pediatric Oncology
A visit to the Pediatric Oncology
unit, located in the old hospital premises, will move anybody.
This is the place where thousands of poor children from the villages of
South India come for treatment of cancer – mostly cancer of lymphoblastic Leukemia.
From a dismal 20% survival rate earlier, today the patients being
treated at the State of the Art Mahesh Memorial Pediatric ward, have a
cure rate of 60%. According to Dr.
Shantha this can be increased if patients come in the earlier stages of the
disease
The hospital was the first to
establish a Pediatric Oncology unit in India as early as 1960. In 2009 a Comprehensive Pediatric Oncology
centre including long term survivor clinic
was established in the premises of Mahesh Memorial Pediatric Ward, thanks to a generous donation from friends of
Mahesh who himself was a patient at the Institute and survived the disease for
over 12 years with excellent care from the doctors at the institute.
Prevention is better than Cure
At every forum and at every
meeting she addresses Dr Shantha is
never tired of emphasizing the importance of prevention of cancer, through
education of the people. According to her, “Lung Cancer is the top killer among men mainly due to
tobacco related habit, whereas among women breast and cervix cancer are most common. Both these cancers can be detected early
through simple check -ups. Apart from
regular mammograms, it will be a good idea for women to physically check up for
any lumps in their breasts regularly and also consult gynecologists if they
find any unusual discharge between two periods”.
The department of Preventive
Oncology established by the hospital is a mission of service which reaches out
to every nook corner of the state through seminars, lectures, screening camps conducted by specially trained Village Health Nurses (VHN) and multipurpose
workers in the early detection of cancer of the cervix, oral cavity and female
breast.
The tobacco cell in the institute
is aggressively involved in the anti-tobacco programme with numerous
cessation classes in schools and
colleges.
Demographic Cancer Registries
When
I asked Dr.Shantha why patients are asked very detailed questions regarding not
only symptoms but also a lot of personal and family details before they are
registered as patients at the Cancer institute. she said, “ it is to help compile
the Demographic registry of the disease maintained by the Hospital”.
The Madras Metropolitan Town
Registry is one of the oldest demographic registry in the country established
in 1984 that provides data on cancer incidence, mortality and long term
survival on all treated cases. The
institute is the only centre that provides life time follow up of patients.
In 2012 the Institute launched a joint effort with the Dept. of
Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamilnadu , to start the largest
population based Cancer Registry in the
world covering 72 million people of Tamilnadu. The information collected
through such efforts is of immense help for researchers doing research on the
subject. This initiative was one of the faciilities inaugurated by the Chief
minister at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations
Leader in Diagnostic & Treatment facilities
According to Dr. Shantha, Cancer
Institute is always the first to buy any
latest equipment related to diagnostic
and treatment of Cancer because of its ability to take quick decisions and with
help from supportive Corporate and
Individual donors who are willing to help the hospital, whatever may be the cost. The Institue was
the first
a.
to
introduce super voltage era in Asia with the installation of Cobalt Therapy unit in 1956.
b.
to install an Indigenously built
Caesium Tele Curie therapy unit in 1962
c.
have an indigenously designed Therapy Simulator in 1968
d.
to Introduce the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in
1978 and at present the only place where the facility is available. In the same
year it also introduced the first blood compound unit, using the blood cell
separator in the supportive treatment of high dose chemotherapy
and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
e.
Installed
the first intraoperative Radio therapy (IORT) and Brachy therapy (CITRON)
between 1995-98
f.
Acceleraor
Clinac 2300 C (a) the first conformational therapy unit installed in
1999
g.
First Rapid Arc Accelerator installed in 2009
The State of the Art Accelarator
for Radio therapy costing Rs. 12 crores, with a grant of Rs 6 crores from Government of India was also inaugurated by the Chief
Minister as a part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Transforming quality of Cancer care
The hospital was also very
fortunate to have Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) the top IT company in the country, providing a state
of the art Hospital Management System `MED Mantra,` and also maintaining the
same totally free. Operational since 2010, Med Mantra has helped the institute
automate all administrative, Clinical and Nursing, Patient admission and
transfer and all imaging functions. All
the information pertaining to a patient is securely stored and accessible to an
authorized doctor at the click of a mouse. This information system, unique to Cancer Institute,
enhances the quality of care for all
patients besides providing easy access of data for research.
I had the opportunity to see the
system in operation when my wife was admitted for treatment at the Institute.
Whether it was the specialist medical oncologist or the duty doctor ,they could
get complete details of the diagnosis, and progress of the treatment at the click
of a button which ensured that every doctor attending on my wife was fully
aware of her case.
*****************
Expounding on the philosophy of the hospital
Dr.Shantha said, “the institute believes in offering the same kind of care to
both paying and non paying patients. Patient
care is foremost. Returns are secondary. If the institute can save a patient with its
expertise, it will do so . It will never turn him back because he cannot afford the
treatment. Affordable and equitable
treatment for all is the mantra at the cancer institute”.
.
At the end of the interview, I
posed a question to Dr. Shantha regarding the future of the institute. When I
asked her “After Dr. Shantha, who?” she smiled and said, “the current Director
of the Institute Dr. T G Sagar, who himself has been with the institute for
over 40 years and his team of dedicated doctors and staff , I am sure, will carry the vision of the founder, in the
years to come!”
Having had a first hand
experience of dealing with the hospital as an attender of a patient I have no
doubt that the Cancer Institute will continue to serve the poor and needy with
compassion and commitment in the future with or without Dr.Shantha.
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