Cancer treatment gets delayed in Kashmir due to infra, manpower shortage

Srinagar: Cancer treatment is getting delayed in Kashmir due to infrastructure and manpower shortage.

The patients end up spending a long time waiting for the treatment to start due to inadequate manpower and infrastructure for the load of thousands diagnosed with malignancies every year.

   

Khursheed Ahmed (name changed) was diagnosed with a malignant lump in his Oesophagus and his family rushed him to SKIMS Soura for treatment.

At SKIMS, he was admitted at Surgical Emergency, and due to shortage of beds, remained on a stretcher for three days.

When he finally got a bed in emergency, his treatment could still not be started as he needed to be shifted to Surgical Oncology department where all the beds were occupied. He was given the date for a surgery finally that was two months away. The family tried to look out for resources to seek treatment at a private facility. Before the surgery date at SKIMS, the patient “gave up on life.”

The long waiting periods for cancer surgeries have continued at SKIMS Soura despite the functional State Cancer Institute (SCI). A senior employee of the Institute said that there are multiple issues that are responsible for the delay and deficiencies.

He said the gross deficiency of manpower is proving to be detrimental to patient care. “The SCI was started but no fresh recruitment was carried out even as the bed number for cancer patients increased,” he said. He added that the posts especially for paramedical staff had been created but have not been filled yet.

The SCI has four departments – Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Clinical Hematology and Radiotherapy. There are nine faculty members in the Radiation Oncology department while the other three departments have four faculty members each.

In addition, the departments also have Resident staff. However, the shortfalls in the strength of nurses, paramedics and technical staff results in long waits for patients, despite doctors putting in long and extended hours in the hospital. On any given day, the OPDs of the hospital continue hours after closing time, a doctor at the hospital said.

Many patients Greater Kashmir has spoken to said they wait from morning up to evening for their turn in OPD. “It is very kind that the OPD goes on till late hours but patients from faraway places face issues as they cannot get back home,” a patient’s attendant said.

The waiting time for surgeries also gets delayed that many a time proves life threatening for patients. A doctor at the hospital said that logistics for cancer surgeries are grossly deficient.

He said there is no dedicated Operation Theatre (OT) for Surgical Oncology and the Institute as a whole has a limited number of OTs. The doctor said the Surgical Oncology Department gets four OT days.

“On two days they operate gynae oncology cases, and on the other two, non-gynae,” he said while commenting that gynae oncology cases form just 10 percent of the cancer surgery cases. “The arrangement is without logic,” he said.

The doctor said that an OT for the department had been approved but is yet to be constructed.

The ward space and bed capacity of the SCI has been posing hurdles in the management of cases that run into thousands every year at the Institute. The 100-bedded Institute is always full to capacity, a medico said.

He said that it was high time that the Government devoted attention to the SCI and augment it with the infrastructure and manpower that can help in saving more lives.

Director SKIMS Soura, Dr Parvaiz A Koul acknowledged the load on the facility and the shortfalls in strength of manpower to manage it. “The load is high and the infrastructure (for cancer management) is concentrated in a couple of places only,” he said. He added that doctors work in addition to their duty hours but the sheer number leaves the system stretched.

Dr Koul said that posts had been referred to SSRB and were in the process of being filled. “We are trying to fill in the gaps with whatever means we have, but yes, we definitely need more staff at SCI and in SKIMS Soura,” he said.

While talking about the difficulties faced by people from far off places seeking treatment, he said that Sarai stay had been made possible for a good number. “But yes, the difficulties are still being faced, especially by those who need cyclic therapies” he said.

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