PremiumBhushan said lessons from India’s fight against the pandemic can serve as valuable beacons in targeted policies for prevention and treatment of cancer.
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NEW DELHI: Tertiary health facilities of various central government ministries such as labour, railways, steel, ONGC, atomic energy, among others, can be pooled to make a significantly large and sustainable network of healthcare for exponentially better healthcare delivery, said Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary on Tuesday while addressing the National Workshop on “Roadmap for Cancer Treatment".
In a day-long workshop, Bhushan along with other medical experts discussed infrastructure and human resources for cancer care in India, affordability, best practices and review of ongoing projects related to cancer treatment.
Bhushan said lessons from India’s fight against the pandemic can serve as valuable beacons in targeted policies for prevention and treatment of cancer.
“The pandemic has taught us that health is not the exclusive responsibility of only the union health ministry but jointly addressed by various ministries at the centre and through state governments. Health cannot reside only at the tertiary healthcare centres, but has a huge footprint in the primary and secondary levels too. Tertiary health facilities of ministries such as Labour, Railways, Steel, ONGC, Atomic Energy etc., can be pooled to make a significantly large and sustainable network of healthcare for an exponential impact of healthcare delivery," said the health secretary.
“Any initiative related to cancer control and management cannot be implemented in silos but needs to be taken up with “whole of government and whole of society" approach as has been our learning from management of the pandemic," he said.
Highlighting the paradigm change that the National health Mission (NHM) has recently undergone, Bhushan noted that not only primary and secondary healthcare services, but referrals with linkages to tertiary health services are being provided through a comprehensive end-to-end delivery solution.
Bhushan identified framing, sharing and adherence of evidence-based common standards of protocols for critical care management as another learning for cancer management.
“These can guide the restructuring and refinement of the National Cancer Control Programme of Union Health Ministry. Capacity building of healthcare providers is required through regular training, retraining and skill enhancement for cancer care," he said, adding that there was a need to adapt and promote health technology for treatment and prevention of cancer.