Data from the National Cancer Registry ranks West Bengal amongst the top 3 in terms of prevalence in Gynecological Cancer, Prostate Cancer and Rectal cancer.
According to data, 18.9 per 100,000 women in the state have Gynecological cancers and 10.3 per 100,000 men have prostate cancer. WB is just behind Kerala in both of these cancers. Cancer cases in the state have been on a steady rise with the state reporting over 1.14 lakh cases in 2023. Even in the recent past, people from the eastern part of the country, especially from WB and northeast, were going to southern states to get treated for cancers, as the region did not have enough medical infrastructure to tackle the cancer burden.
However, with the adoption of advanced surgical technology and dedicated cancer units, the state’s healthcare system can provide proper treatment for cancer patients in West Bengal. Solutions adopted by healthcare providers in the state are Robotic Assisted Surgery and Dedicated Cancer Units.
On World Cancer Day, Dr Sujoy Bala, Senior Robotic Cancer Surgeon at HCG EKO Cancer Centre(Kolkata) said, “Cancer cases in the state of West Bengal have been on a steady rise and the major factors contributing to this rise include the air pollution, high tobacco use and pesticides contaminating the food in the region. Also, Arsenic in groundwater is reportedly found in certain areas of West Bengal, which may cause cancer.
Earlier, people from the eastern part of the country, especially from West Bengal were going to southern states to get treated for cancers. However recently, there has been a significant increase in the number of cancer hospitals, equipped with new-age technologies in Kolkata. One such modern advancement is the robotic-assisted surgical systems like the da Vinci. Compared to the conventional approach for surgery, robotic-assisted surgery provides better clinical outcomes in specific procedures since the robotic arm’s range of motion is over 360°, allowing you to rotate and reach tight places in ways not possible for laparoscopic instruments or even human hands. The high-definition camera gives 10x zoom allowing you to replicate your open surgical skills in a more precise and refined fashion.
The goal is to achieve minimal blood loss during surgery with optimum cancer clearance. And the postoperative pain intensity is so low that patients are out of bed walking on the next post-op day! That too in patients of major cancer surgery.” Medix Global’s Founder and CEO, Ms. Sigal Atzmon said “In 7.8% of the oncology cases managed, we changed the diagnosis and helped reach an accurate diagnosis. This includes the type or subtype of cancer, staging of the tumour or extreme cases in which the patient was wrongly diagnosed and did not have cancer at all. In 54.1% of the cases, our specialists have recommended a different more optimal, personalised treatment regimen.
In 11.5% of the cases we helped, our patients avoid significant unnecessary treatment, procedures or surgery that was either not in line with the medical guidelines or not indicated for their condition.”
