LAHORE: International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) is observed around the world every year on February 15.
This year’s campaign focuses on ‘No More Pain and No More Loss’ for children with cancer and their families. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every year, more than 300,000 children from childhood to 19 years of age are diagnosed with cancer around the world. Approximately, eight in 10 of these children live in low and middle-income countries where their survival rate is often poor.
These views were expressed by Dr Saadiya Javed Khan, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), while talking to journalists here on Wednesday a head of World Childhood Cancer Day on Friday (tomorrow). She added: “Cancer is a curable disease, if diagnosed and treated at an early stage under the supervision of qualified paediatric oncologists. In Pakistan, leukemia or blood cancer is the most common type found in children. Although it is nearly 90-95pc curable in the west, survival in Pakistan is about 60-70pc. Factors leading to these poor outcomes include rampant malnutrition, infections, and late diagnosis. Leukemia mostly affects kids between the ages of 3 to 5 and later adolescents. The symptoms of leukemia are very identifiable. Some of its major symptoms include pallor, fatigue, easy bruising and frequent bone pains. Besides leukemia, other common types of cancer seen in Pakistan include lymphomas, bone tumors, and retinoblastoma. As SKMCH&RC is a referral centre, it receives patients from not only all provinces of Pakistan but also from Afghanistan as well. Retinoblastoma, as it is hereditary should have genetic screening and family counseling once a child has been identified with the disease.” Talking about precautionary measures, Dr Saadiya said: “A balanced diet is very important in the upbringing of a healthy child. A huge number of children are victims of malnutrition and avoidable infections if vaccinated appropriately. In our society, children are only being taken to doctors when they fall seriously ill. This practice should be avoided and regular medical checkups must be done after every six months to a year for well-child checks.”
She added: “In cancer treatment for children the role of trained paediatric oncologists is vital along with the availability of latest technology.” SKMCH&RC is providing state-of-the-art facilities in this regard. The most popular technology in the treatment of leukemia is cytogenetics and evaluation of minimal-residual disease (MRD) which is being provided to patients since the last couple of years. Cytogenetic helps in risk stratification and appropriate treatment plans. SKMCH&RC uses MRD technology to identify the effectiveness of treatment and modification in cases of residual disease. For the treatment of retinoblastoma, intra-arterial chemotherapy technology is being developed to help benefit our patients. Through this technology, chemotherapy can directly be injected into the tumor site which makes it possible to help prevent systemic side-effects of chemotherapy in young children.”
She said: “SKMCH&RC is also providing play therapy to pediatric patients. Painting, drawing, music and other play therapy strategies are a very effective method for controlling anger and mood swings of children. This helps to distract them and enables them to accommodate to the new changes in their lives.”
In her message on International Childhood Cancer Day, Dr Saadiya Khan said: “There is still a lot to do in treating child cancer patients and urged the government and individuals to work together in establishing children friendly hospitals on district and provincial levels.”
LGH: Under the aegis of Health Education Programme of Post Graduate Medical Institute in four departments of Lahore General Hospital training workshops were organised for young doctors. The doctors from eye, paediatric, radiology and gynae department attended the workshops where professors of relevant department delivered lectures on modern treatment and threw light on the importance of research. Post Graduate Medical Institute Principal Prof Dr Mohammad Tayyab distributed certificates among participants. He said in PGMI separate department of medical education was established so the students could be apprised about the medical requirements of present era. He said the institution had already provided a number of doctors in and abroad Pakistan and in future more young doctors would be available in the lot to serve the ailing humanity. Prof Tayyab said in Post Graduate Medical Institute annually rupees one crore were being spent on research to provide more opportunities to young doctors.