It is said that two-thirds of children in Nepal are still deprived of cancer treatment. It is said that a large number of children with cancer are deprived of treatment due to a lack of funds and public awareness.
Dr. Ajit Rayamajhi, director of Kanti Children’s Hospital, said that adding that the number of children coming to all the hospitals is still deprived of a complete treatment for cancer. Now only one-third come for treatment. Today, International Child Cancer Day is being celebrated all over the world including Nepal.
He says many parents lack the awareness that their children can be cured by cancer treatment. “Cancer treatment is expensive, requires two to three years of treatment and many parents do not bring their children for treatment because the medicine is expensive,” he said. Parents need to be made aware that treating cancer is curable and does not cost much. ‘
The government has provided some of the services available at the hospital free of cost for the treatment of children’s cancer. It has been providing up to one lakh medicines free of cost. According to him, 20 to 30 percent of those who have reached the hospital for treatment have gone home without any treatment due to lack of funds. Of the 25,000 new cancer patients being added to Nepal every year, 1,500 are children.
In Nepal, children are treated at BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur, Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, Patan Hospital, Tilganga Eye Hospital along Kanti Hospital. In Kanti, 200 pediatric cancer patients were treated last year. The World Health Organization has also listed Nepal as the focal point of the global campaign on pediatric cancer.
Dr. Bishnu Dutta Poudel, director of Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital, says that 70 percent of children can be cured if they are treated for cancer. Children need access to treatment to prevent cancer. He also said that the treatment center needs to be further strengthened.
According to Poudel, 43 people between the ages of one and four, 163 people between the ages of five and 14, and 214 people between the ages of 15 and 19 were treated at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital last year. The director of the hospital, Dr. Poudel, said that the girl could not get the disease if she was vaccinated against uterine cancer.
Similarly, Dr. Purnima Rajkarnikar, an ophthalmologist at Tilganga Eye Hospital, says that children are more prone to retinoblastoma cancer. He says that children under the age of five have such problems. According to him, such disease is seen in one out of 15,000 children.
If it is treated late, it will spread to all parts of the eye and cause problems like blindness, so it needs to be treated in time. In Tilganga, 50 children are diagnosed with retinoblastoma annually.
Similarly, pediatrician and cancer specialist of Patan Hospital Dr. Sucharika Tuladhar informed that the hospital has been treating child cancer for two years. Up to 30 pediatric cancer patients have been treated at the hospital (Sourced from RSS).
Karuna Thapa
