The recent inauguration of the state’s first multispecialty cancer hospital in Dimapur, the Eden Medical Centre, comes as a silver lining to the gloomy scenario which Nagaland occupies in cancer prevalence and treatment facility.
The Northeast India is recorded to have the highest prevalence of 16 forms of cancer in both male and female, and Nagaland figures among the top of the list. However, patients from Nagaland had to go outside the state for treatment due to lack of cancer care services in the state. Even the Medical Minister who inaugurated the multispecialty centre had admitted that this situation incurred heavy expenses from both the individual and the state government.
As per the Population Based Cancer Registry of the Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK), since the year 2012 onwards, more than 600 new cancer cases are being registered in Nagaland every year, with the four leading sites of cancer in males in Nagaland being nasopharynx, stomach, oesophagus and hypopharynx and that of females are cervix, stomach, breast and nasopharynx.
In the recent years, medical science has come up with new discoveries and many researches are taking place, and cancer, previously believed to be untreatable, if detected on time, is now considered to be curable.
According to health specialists, cancer is divided into four stages based on the size of the tumour, of which, the first and second stages can be treated, while in the third stage, the life of the patient can be extended. However, in the fourth stage, it becomes difficult to deal with. They are also of the view that there is a need for proper awareness of the disease which will lead to early detection and would lead to proper and complete treatment.
Health experts also state that cancer can strike anyone and cautions individuals to prevent themselves from falling into the grip of this malignancy. They advise taking healthy food and proper nutrition, keeping up with daily exercise, less exposure to sunlight, avoiding artificial food and food products, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, maintaining proper hygiene, checking out for any abnormal formation or deformation in the body etc.
People who chew tobacco are said to have greater risk for developing cancers of the oral cavity, especially the lip, tongue, palate and pharynx. It is a small wonder now why Nagaland, whose 57% general population is reportedly falling prey to the risks of tobacco products, ranks among the top (oral) cancer prevalent states in the country.
But setting aside the negativities, the visionary initiative of the man behind Eden Medical Centre, in the person of Yashi Ao, who has dared to do something to alleviate the plight of his people in fighting against cancer, must not be sidelined. The cancer hospital has given the people of Nagaland that precious yet elusive gift – hope. And with hope, everything is possible.
