Mumbai: For the first time a head and neck cancer Out Patient Department (OPD) has been started at the Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy (JJ) Hospital on April 9. The OPD is a joint venture between the state government and Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel.
This comes after the state witnessed a 10 per cent rise in head and neck cancer cases. “We have started this OPD with an aim to provide affordable healthcare services to the patients who cannot afford treatment in private hospitals,” said a doctor. Dr Srinivas Chavan, head of ENT department, said large number of people from rural areas are also suffering from this disease.
But, due to the lack of awareness, the patients ignore the symptoms which have a lot of implications on their health. “On an average 200 patients daily visit the general OPD at the JJ, St George and GT hospitals. Out of which 20-25 patients are showing precancerous symptoms,” said Dr Chavan.
Doctors from Tata Memorial Hospital will provide state-of-the-art medical treatment to patients at the JJ Hospital. “As the cases of head and neck cancer is on the rise, we have asked doctors from Tata Hospital to examine patients in the OPD on every Monday and Wednesday,” said Dr Chavan
Dr Devendra Chaukar, Head and Neck Department, Tata Memorial Hospital, said, “A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Tata Memorial Hospital and the government and on its first day they have examined 12 patients. We will be training the doctors from JJ Hospital as well.”