APART from relevant facilities, the number of specialist doctors for cancer treatment in the country is inadequate compared to the rising number of patients. Many people are diagnosed with and die from cancer every year due to food adulteration, environment pollution, unhealthy lifestyle, obesity, drug addiction, deterioration of microenvironment and other reasons. There are only 145 cancer specialists in 20 hospitals, including 11 private hospitals in Bangladesh against 15 lakh cancer patients while more than one die of cancer each year.
The inadequate treatment facilities force many emergency patients to stay in queue for months to receive different types of therapy, life-saving treatment, available in hospitals that eventually become deadly. Experts fear that the number of cancer patients will rise further in the coming years, which needs immediate attention of the government and entrepreneurs to set up specialized cancer hospitals, and national awareness building about safe food, pollution and healthy lifestyle.
At the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), where cancer treatment cost is comparatively low but inadequate therapy machines deprive many to get treatment in time. According to the WHO, Bangladesh should have at least 160 radiotherapy centres considering its population, but unfortunately, the country has only 20 such centres. Besides, the government must have sufficient data regarding cancer patients across the country as the data delinquency puts obstacles on planning. The main obstacle of cancer treatment is that a majority of the patients seek treatment when their cancer is at the advanced stage when they need radiotherapy. At the stage of emergency treatment necessity, a full course of radiotherapy costs between Tk 15,000 and Tk 30,000 while the lavish private hospitals offer the same course at the cost of Tk 2-3 lakh. Most of the cancer patients are from lower and lower-middle income groups.
People’s health is vital for national development. It’s the need of time to develop necessary cancer treatment centre with high-edge equipment, trained healthcare assistants, and physicians. Making treatment available would not ease the problem alone rather stopping the cause of cancer is more important. Water and Air pollution, contamination in food and lifestyle are basic aspects that need to be improved to resist cancer and other major diseases like heart, respiratory, diabetes and kidney complications
