Battling the king of maladies

"India needs to consider how its public health policy is dealing with the long and dark shadow of cancer, which imposes huge costs on state in providing tertiary care for advanced chronic cases."

There is a need to strengthen key policy goals — preventing new cases, offering low or no-cost treatment, improving quality of life or palliation. The single biggest intervention that public policy can make is to tighten curbs on the use of tobacco, given that major cancers in Indian men are linked to it. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Battling the king of maladies

The Centre should accept the recommendations made by High Level Expert Group of the Planning Commission on Universal Health Coverage to improve access to cancer treatment and devote the funds necessary.

The good news about cancer

"With the treatments available today, it is possible to hit the disease for a six."

Whereas two decades ago cancer specialists had only mutilating surgeries, highly toxic chemicals or radiotherapy treatments based on a cobalt source to offer their patients, today not only have these treatments been greatly refined but treatments that target specific genetic mutations in the cell, hormonal treatments and immunotherapy all have a role to play and have made cancer less of a death threat. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : The good news about cancer

Though it is true that there are still cancers that are more intractable and difficult to treat than others, let us remember that we are today in the golden age of cancer treatment. So Yuvraj Singh has a number of factors working in his favour.