Page 21 - Tata-Trusts-Annual-Report-2021-22
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OVERVIEW                                                    knowledge  partners  for  similar  initiative  entities.  A
                                                                                         comprehensive sourcing strategy has also been
                             With over 1.4 million new reported cases of cancer every    developed to recruit and train medical professionals
                             year, India  has  an  increasing  burden  of  cancer.  Most  of   doctors,  nurses, and technicians. Fellowships and
                             these cases are reported in later stages of the disease,    certificate programmes have been started to upskill
                             leading to a high mortality rate of about 50%. This         and cross-skill these professionals.
                             problem of high incidence  and delayed  detection
                             is aggravated by:                                         •  The A ordability  pillar has been
                                                                                         deployed  to  make  central  and
                             •  Poor infrastructure and low availability  of skilled     state government  insurance
                               medical expertise to treat the disease.                   schemes available at all
                                                                                         network  cancer care health
                             •  Existing cancer care facilities being concentrated in    establishments. Bulk buying
                               metros and tier-1 cities, resulting in patients having to   of state-of-the-art cancer
                               travel long distances to seek treatment and care. This    care diagnostic and treatment
                               leads to high out-of-pocket expenses and consequently,    equipment and centralised rate
                               high dropout rates along the treatment pathway.           contract pharmacy services have
                                                                                         further reduced costs.
                             •  Increasing adoption and spread of unhealthy
                               lifestyle habits.                                       •  The Quality pillar ensures
                                                                                         standardised guidelines
                             •  Lack of awareness related to benefits of early detection.   are available and practiced
                                                                                         for diagnosis and treatment.
                               The novel “Distributed Model of Cancer Care,” has been    All the centres will be guided
                               implemented under the Cancer Care Programme of            by National  Cancer   Grid
                               Tata Trusts to provide cancer patients and their          (NCG) treatment guideline protocol, and are  networked
                               caregivers better access to quality and a ordable care    via digital technology for virtual tumour boards,
                               that is closer to their homes, and to reverse the early to   telemedicine consults, etc.
                               late detection ratio of cancer from 30:70 to 70:30. The
                               model follows a four-pronged approach.                  • The  Early  Detection  pillar  works  to  reverse  the  early
                                                                                        to  late detection ratio of cancer. Multi-pronged
                             •  The Access pillar of the model focuses on making        approaches have been adopted to enhance awareness,
                               quality infrastructure and medical professionals         cancer screening, and to discourage tobacco and
                               available closer to patients’ homes. A step-down model   alcohol consumption—a major risk factor for many
                               of infrastructure has been put in place, under which     cancers. Palliative care is being made available
                                   Apex Centres, Comprehensive Cancer Care              for improving quality of life of cancer patients and
                                    Hospitals, and Day Care Centres are being           their caregivers.
                                    developed.  Varied   approaches   have  been
                                    adopted to ensure  the  successful operation  of
                                     these units. These include direct operations,
                                  build and  handover, and the units acting as



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