Paediatric oncology unit at PIMS receives 273 new patients

Islamabad : The facilities for treatment of cancers in children are hardly available in public sector in this region of the country however Department of Paediatric Medicine at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences is running a unit of paediatric oncology that received a total of 273 new child patients suffering from cancer in 2019.

Data collected by ‘The News’ has revealed that as many as 86 child patients are registered with the paediatric oncology unit at PIMS for treatment that has 8-bed ward along with bone marrow transplant unit having two beds.

In last one year, the paediatric oncology unit admitted a total of 563 child patients suffering from various types of cancers and despite limited resources, the unit is striving hard to accommodate all child patients reaching PIMS with cancer, said Deputy Director at PIMS Dr. Waseem Ahmed Khawaja while talking to ‘The News’ in connection with International Childhood Cancer Day (ICCD) being observed on February 15 around the globe.

15th of February is International Childhood Cancer Day that is a global collaborative campaign to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents suffering from cancer, the survivors and their families.

Dr. Khawaja said in last one year, 34 per cent of all child patients reaching PIMS with cancer were suffering from blood cancer while 30 per cent of the cases were with lymphoma. He said 12 per cent of childhood cancer patients were with kidney cancer, also called renal cancer. Three per cent of all cancer patients were with eye cancer while 16 per cent were with brain cancer, he said.

He said the paeds oncology unit arranges awareness seminars to make public aware of the importance of early diagnosis of cancer in children and in-time treatment. The oncology unit organized a seminar on Thursday in connection with ICCD to give public a message that cancer in children is curable and it is not contagious, said Dr. Khawaja.