District day-care cancer centres to offer meds & reassurance

Panaji: The day-care cancer centre concept announced by the Union finance minister will address the increasing burden of patients, especially in Goa, which sees many cancer cases. The day-care centre concept is very successful in the West and will benefit Goa, said GMC medical superintendent Dr Rajesh Patil.

As cancer is a long-term condition, patients become much more responsive to treatment in their own environment. New guidelines also promote day-care treatment, he said. “Patients can come in the morning for chemo and go back the same evening. They’re not left alone,” Patil said. “A nurse and a doctor continuously monitor their condition. The treating doctor is available via videoconferencing. This system is well established in the West.”

GMC already has a day-care facility for cancer and may start this at district hospitals too, where the patient meets the oncologist and starts chemo at GMC, continues treatment at North or South Goa district hospitals, and returns to meet the oncologist at GMC after a month or so. “At the day-care centre, they will have doctors, nurses, and even an oncopsychologist who will talk about cancer to patients, their relations, and caregivers who suffer along with the patient,” he said. “They will counsel them. The patients will also receive palliative care. It’s an excellent concept that is catching up.”

At the day-care centre at GMC, chemo ports don’t require the patient to be pricked on the arms. They come in the morning, finish chemo, and leave. The same day-care concept is followed in several surgeries under which the patient is discharged in less than 24 hours, he said.