Counselling is important component of cancer care

World Cancer Day is marked on Feb 4 to raise awareness in addition to improving patient services and pressing govts and individuals across the world to take action against the disease.
With over 15,00,000 new cancers being diagnosed and over 9,00,000 deaths every year, the cancer ‘tsunami' in India has emerged as a major public health concern. Due to inequitable and poor access to care, over 60% of cancer patients in India are in advanced stages, with significantly higher mortality when compared with high-income countries. Even more alarming is the fact that 50% of the total cancer cases in India are reported in the younger age group of 35–60 years.
Given the high disease burden accompanied by high economic burden for cancer care in India, the landmark initiatives announced in the Union Budget a few days ago is progressive and a crucial step towards reducing the treatment costs for millions of patients fighting cancer in the country.
Cancer medicines will now be more accessible, thus providing a lifeline to millions by reducing out of pocket expenditure. The govt's decision to set up cancer care centres at the district level would ensure care is delivered locally where patients reside. As more than 70% of India's population reside in rural areas, this move would minimise the need to travel long distances to obtain treatment in major cities, and more importantly, significantly eases the financial burden.
The World Cancer Day Theme — United by Unique — marks the start of a three-year campaign from 2025 to 2027. This focuses on a people-centred approach to cancer care and their stories at the heart of the conversation. Although we are living in times of phenomenal scientific advancements, poor communication skills is still one of the major barriers for providing effective cancer care in the country. Counselling is therefore very important component of cancer care.
Communication is a distinct art to talk medicine in the language of a non-medical man. Compassion and empathy must be at its best whilst breaking bad news. Until a few years ago, "communication skills" was not even part of the Indian medical curriculum. Although it was included in 2019, there is still no structured, uniform and robust assessment process in place across the nation. It is pertinent to mention here that however knowledgeable and skilled one may be, it is virtually impossible to clear Undergraduate MBBS Course or Specialist Fellowship Examinations (Postgraduate Course) in the UK without demonstrating adequate communication skills. A fail in this section means an overall fail, even if one does well in other aspects of the Examination.
PM Narendra Modi hailed the Budget 2025 as a game changer for the country's progress, emphasising its role in accelerating the country's journey towards Viksit Bharat. On the occasion of World Cancer Day, whilst commending him and the govt for announcing several cancer care initiatives, I call upon the govt to ensure communication skills and its formal robust assessment becomes an integral part of undergraduate and postgraduate medical curriculum in the country.
Dr P Raghu Ram, OBE
Founding director,
KIMS-USHALAKSHMI Centre for Breast Diseases, Hyderabad
Founder & Chairman,
Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer
Foundation, Hyderabad