CANCER TREATMENT IN INDIA, best cancer hospitals in the world
Cancer is now the most dreaded disease in the world and leading cause for morbidity and mortality worldwide with approximately 16 million new cases in the year 2016. Cancer is the second major reason for deaths in the world and accounts for approximately 9 million deaths annually worldwide. Cancer is a multi-factorial disease and thus asks for complicated treatment procedures. Treatment of cancer requires novel drugs and targeted medicines. All this makes treatment of cancer a costly affair for the patient. India has emerged as one of the focal points for treatment of cancer in the world and receives good amount of medical tourism from USA, UK, Australia, Middle East countries and many African countries like Kenya for treatment of cancer. India harbors one of the best hospitals and hospital chains for the treatment of cancers namely Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, Apollo hospital, Fortis healthcare and many more. There are number of sophisticated, well equipped and advanced hospitals and treatment facilities for cancer in India providing chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy and surgical treatment regimes. Even most advanced diagnosis techniques such as PET scan, MRI scan, CT scan, digital-rays and sonography techniques.
CANCER TREATMENT IN INDIA COST
Cancer treatment in India may cost anything between 5 lakhs to as high as 20 lakhs or more in Indian rupees depending on the type and intensity of the cancer disease. The costs of cancer treatment vary with each location and hospital even in the same geographical region. The high cost of cancer treatments is due to the use of novel drugs and targeted medicines, use of sophisticated and expensive machinery and highly trained doctors and nursing staff required to deal with the cancer patients. However, compared to Western countries such as USA, the cost of cancer treatment is quite low and considered to be cheap comparatively. Cancer treatment abroad India is expensive. The cost of treating cancer abroad can be approximately ten times more and in dollars, so that effectively makes it 500 times more. If we take an example, even for a simple consultation abroad the deposit may be 10,000 USD which is approximately Rs 650000.
CANCER TREATMENT: INDIA Vs. ABROAD
According to one of the topmost cancer surgeons in the world today, Dr. R Bidwe, Director of Tata Memorial Research Centre, cancer treatment in India is best and one can have the same treatment as in any other part of the world. Everything that can be done in the best cancer centers around the globe can be done in India too.
Dr. Ashish Bakshi, senior consultant oncologist with the L H Hiranandani Hospital reiterates that cancer treatment in India is equivalent to and in some cases better than anywhere else in world. Another oncologist, Dr Devika Bhojwani, Vice President of Women’s Cancer Initiative says that when it comes to cancer treatment we are one of the best in the world today. We have the finest surgeons here and right from the hospitals, to the treatment and surgery techniques used and post-treatment care as well as in terms of cost, India is among the finest. Nowadays, when new drugs against cancer are launched in any part of the world they are simultaneously launched in India too. Even if there is some delay in the launch of the drugs, the time lag is never more than three months. All advanced treatment technologies and drugs are available in India as par the rest of the world and that too at comparatively less costs.
CANCER TREATMENT IN INDIA BY AYURVEDA
Apart from conventional treatment methods such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, India offers methods of ayurvedic treatment of cancers. Ayurvedic treatment of cancer is carried out in steps. It includes abstinence from food and lifestyle that cause imbalance, elimination of toxins through panchkarma, restoration of healthy functions (jathargani) and rejuvenation of affected parts and body by rasayanas. The ayurvedic treatment of cancer does not only focus on the affected tissue but on the whole body. It aims at removing the harmful toxins from the cancer affected tissue as well as the whole body. The ayurvedic regime of cancer treatment is thus a holistic one.