Opinion The day after World Cancer Day: What I learnt from my mother’s battle against cancer and what is missing in the public discussion on the disease

If the disease makes no distinction between the rich and poor, treatments should also know no limits and must be available and affordable to all.

The fact is that cancer treatment does not end with therapy; it is a constant fight, having to get checked every few months and staying on adequate medication all your life. (Express file photo by Abhisek Saha)

Sheji S Edathara

February 7, 2023 05:48 PM IST First published on: Feb 5, 2023 at 02:32 PM IST

Death is inevitable. However, a conscious acknowledgement of how close it is and living with that every day, is horrifically painful. It’s been over three years, and it still haunts me to think of the days I spent beside my mother in the chemo ward, and the constant conversations I had with doctors and other patients — many of whom seemed to have lost all hope. Spending time in the cancer ward of the hospital made me realise how dark and full of fear and uncertainty life is for the poor.

My mother, now hale and hearty, a woman of massive willpower and determination, saw a long bout of chemotherapy spread over a year-and-a-half — all thanks to our “financial well-being”. But what about those who cannot even make ends meet? What about widowed women and those who have no one to look after them… or children whose parents are in a constant dilemma of whether to stay beside their sick child or seek one day’s labour to meet the treatment needs? Every time I visit a cancer ward, it’s more and more harrowing as I realise that even after all these years, it’s the same — the poor remain poor, plagued by the same financial crises and robbed of the fundamental right to health.

Also read | What are the most common cancers among Delhi’s men and women? An answer emerges

The days and months that I scrambled around looking after my mum’s needs left me baffled in many ways. No matter where you are getting treated, be it a private or a government hospital, cancer treatment is only for the rich. Given how expensive medicines used in chemotherapy are, even oncologists keep it from the poor that there are drugs that can better one’s condition. In some cases, the patients themselves leave their fate in God’s hands. I remember my mother’s chief doctor saying, “Yes, you can afford it (drug); it’s just a matter of lakhs and it will be over soon… However, not many can and so we don’t inform them.” I have rejoiced at the fact that a single drug can do wonders for my mother’s health, but it also made me see how fragile our lives are without monetary support. Even when the doctors said they could only give a year for my mother, we at least had the drugs to pin our hopes on, believing that things could turn around. For my mother to improve from the last stage of cancer, going through 17 cycles of therapy, including chemo, hormonal and radiation and finally undergoing mastectomy, it has definitely been a hard-won battle for my family. But many people I met at the ward couldn’t even afford one-third of these treatments. The fact is that cancer treatment does not end with therapy; it is a constant fight, having to get checked every few months and staying on adequate medication all your life.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, and one in nine Indians gets cancer during their lifetime, according to an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study. As per data from the National Cancer Registry of the ICMR presented in Parliament, deaths due to cancer have only increased in our country — from 7.7 lakh in 2020 and 7.9 lakh in 2021 to about 8.08 lakh in 2022. The figure is estimated to further increase to 15.7 lakh by 2025.

We have been hearing how early detection and treatment could cure a majority of cancer patients. However, detection itself needs frequent hospital trips, which many, especially the poor, avoid to save on expenses. They live in the hope that the “swelling” is nothing but a “boil” that will go away in a few days. They only turn up when the pain is unbearable and they still have to make compromises. Even as reports of new drugs and therapy claiming effective impact raises our hopes, the question remains — who can actually afford it?

Along with the physical effects, the mental toll it takes on the patient as well as the concerned family is devastating. The larger expense of drugs only adds to this, causing despair and anxiety.

I always thought, if only cancer was just a thing for the rich and the influential — at least they could get better and even survive! This may sound naive, but if diseases have no boundaries, healthcare facilities should also know no limits and must be available and affordable to all. Our government needs to step up and extend a helping hand to the underprivileged as another World Cancer Day comes and goes.

sheji.edathara@indianexpress.com