For the last two years, the country has been battling the coronavirus with every resource available, taking numerous steps to fight the pandemic. But when the numbers are taken into consideration, the rate of deaths from cancer is alarming and needs immediate attention. 

Would It be over-ambitious to term cancer as a silent pandemic? I do not think so. The number of deaths from Covid-19 in the last two years has been about 28,000 in Bangladesh, far below than that of cancer each year.

With all possible treatments available in Bangladesh, why are we failing to stop the death march from cancer? The main reason that I’ve found: Negligence. The sorry state of the healthcare system and suffering at hospitals, added with high treatment cost, discourage many people from visiting healthcare facilities for treatment, unless they find it essential.

We do not visit doctors till we are completely overwhelmed with the disease. This is why early cancer detection for many patients is not possible in Bangladesh. Cancer can only be cured or treated successfully if it is diagnosed at an early stage. It is not that treatment is not possible when cancer care is delayed, but the pathway becomes much more difficult. In that stage, the patient feels more vulnerable considering the tensions associated with the high treatment cost of cancer in Bangladesh, along with the disease itself. 

Secondly -- mismanagement in cancer treatment. Cancer compromises the immune system and its cells, meaning that cells that once protected your body begin to interfere with the normal way your immune system works. This is why any patient receiving chemotherapy needs at least one week of close observation to see how it works.

First there is delayed detection, and then there is delay in treatment. For example, if you go for surgery to cut out the source -- a tumour and possibly some nearby tissue -- this includes some complications. A decision has to be made, whether to minimize the source through chemotherapy then surgery, or a surgery then chemo. 

Consider that a decision has been made. Who will now perform the surgery? Do we know how many of our surgeons are dedicatedly available for cancer treatment? The number is so low that it is best to not mention it. If the source is removed once, but the germ remains inside the surface, then is there any point of going for surgery? I will keep this question for the readers. 

Now let’s come to the topic of expense. We all know that cancer treatment is highly expensive and is a long-term procedure. Regular people can avail the treatment standing at the long queue of the government hospitals, but what about medicine? How many hospitals offer free medicine for cancer patients? Maybe there is government allocation for the medicine, but why is medicine with seals saying “not for sale” being sold at pharmacies? 

My last point is on cancer awareness. How many people have proper knowledge about the disease itself? Is there any way or any place where people, except the affected families, can learn about it? Are there any strong steps or mechanisms in place where people can learn about it? How extensive is the knowledge provided in the primary textbooks about the disease, one that not only can take a life, but also can break a family for life, both mentally and financially? 

The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition, in a press statement on February 1, estimated that over 40 lakh people will lose their lives globally by 2040 only from ovarian cancer if the situation continues. Now is the time to make a decision, to identify the pandemic that is cancer and come forward in preventing it. 

Where there is a high chance of complete cure through early detection, we have to learn about cancer by ourselves instead of relying on others. Today, on World Cancer Day, let us all commit that we would not neglect any cancer symptoms, including tumours.

Let us commit that we will not only make ourselves conscious, but also make people in our families more aware as well. 

Rafe Sadnan Adel is a member at Board of Directors of the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition, and founder chairperson of Cancerbd.net, the first ever Bengali language web-based initiative in Bangladesh to raise cancer related awareness.

Published in Dhaka Tribune on February 4, 2022, 2:53 PM

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