LAHORE – According to figures of the World Health Organisation (WHO), every seventh person in the world is dying of cancer across the globe every year, Surgical Oncology Society Pakistan President and King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Surgery Department Head Professor Arshad Cheema said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference on cancer awareness at the KEMU Research Centre, he said that cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, particularly in developing countries. Cheema said that in 2005, 8 million people died of cancer out of 58 million deaths worldwide. The KEMU Surgery Department head said that four components of the National Cancer Control Programme are prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative care.
He said that over 40 percent of all deaths from cancers could be prevented and other cancers could be detected early, treated adequately and cured. Cheema said that even with late stage cancer, suffering of patients could be relieved with good palliative care. Of people who cured from cancer, 60 percent are cured by surgery alone, while adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy therapy adds another 10 to 20 percent to cure rates, he said.
The KEMU professor said that the Surgical Oncology Society Pakistan was established in 2008 to advance surgical treatment of cancer in Pakistan. Cheema said that it is working towards education and training of cancer surgeons and helping public health education while providing guidance for health policy formulation concerning cancer control in Pakistan. He said that 30 percent of cancer develops from use of tobacco while liver cancer is caused by Hepatitis B and C.
Cheema said that comprehensive cancer centres need to be established for cancer treatment under one roof. “There is no additional cost for setting-up comprehensive cancer centres, as all teaching hospitals have already got requisite infrastructure and all teaching hospitals should have cancer treatment facilities under one roof,” the KEMU professor said. He highlighted that Pakistan has no cancer registry centre except one in Lyari, Karachi.
Cheema said that surgery is the most cost efficient treatment available in third world countries such as Pakistan. He informed that the society is organising the 3rd National Cancer Surgery Conference in Lahore from February 2 to 5. Three live cancer surgery workshops will be held on February 2, 3 and 4 at the Services Hospital, Jinnah Hospital and the Mayo Hospital respectively where renowned surgeons from the UK and all over Pakistan would demonstrate state-of-art cancer surgery operation.
On the World Cancer Day on February 4, the inaugural session of the conference would be held at the Library Hall of KEMU. Renowned scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand would grace the occasion. The event would be followed by a live video-conferencing from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, New York. On February 5, around 65 research papers would be presented in academic sessions at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore.
