Medical expert calls for annual cancer screening for early detection

[From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia]

 An Oncology expert has advised that people should go for cancer screening annually.

Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer.

Chairman, Oncology, Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, Manipal Hospitals, in India, Dr S.P. Somashekar, gave the advice during a virtual workshop organized by Manipal Hospitals for members of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Tuesday.

The workshop with the theme:”How to defeat cancer, ” was facilitated by the National secretariat of NUJ.

Dr Somashekar said that annual cancer screening would help to detect the disease at an early stage when it is curable.

According to him, at stages one to three, cancer would be cured but once it advances to stage four and beyond, it becomes difficult to handle.

He also spoke extensively on various methods available to easily diagnose the tumour and help prevent any serious outcomes by detecting it early before the cancer reaches an advanced stage.

He identified eating habits that could trigger cancer to include alcohol consumption, eating cellophane-wrapped groundnut kept under the sun, among others.

Since prevention is better than cure, Dr. Somashekar leveraged the opportunity to explain to the Journalists, the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and healthy diet which could help in preventing cancer.

“The main aim of this session is to help people understand the importance of early diagnosis of cancer and the various treatments available for the disease,” Dr. Somashekar explained.

He said cancer has become easier to handle due technological advancements; talked about and also demonstrated how robotics are deployed for seamless cancer operations.

“With technological advancements and innovations reaching a new dimension in the field of oncology, we introduced the audiences to various technologies which include Robotics and associated technologies,” he said.

The Oncology expert also threw light on various advanced chemotherapy and surgical procedures available for the treatment, adding that cancer could be easily handled at their facility if detected at early stage.

In his contribution, Chief Operating Officer of Manipal Hospitals, Mr Karthik Rajagopa, said that the cancer pandemic has taught the management of Manipal Hospitals the importance of building a global network of healthcare ecosystem which would help it to bridge the gaps in the healthcare chain.

“With this aim, we are planning on conducting many such workshops which let us share our knowledge and also help us in learning insights from the global healthcare ecosystem. We will be adding multiple such workshops in the future which will cater to different Centre(s) of Excellence (CoEs) and do our part in making quality healthcare accessible to the global community,” Rajagopal said.

National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Chief Christopher Isiguzo, and National Secretary of the Union, Mr Shuaibu Usman Leman, said the partnership with Manipal Hospitals would be of immense health benefits to journalists and other Nigerians as the hospital was one of the most respected hospital brands in the world.

“We will get medical advice and knowledge from the experienced doctors of Manipal Hospitals.

“This association will not only benefit us but will also help people of Nigeria lead a healthy lifestyle,” the NUJ leaders said.

According to another official of the hospital, Dr Arun Chakravarthy, Manipal Hospitals is among the top healthcare providers in India, serving over four million patients annually.

“Its focus is to develop an affordable, high-quality healthcare framework through its multi-specialty and tertiary care delivery spectrum and further extend it to out of hospital care.

“With the completion of the acquisition of a 100% stake in Columbia Asia Hospitals in India and the addition of Vikram Hospital, the integrated network today has a Pan-India footprint of 27 hospitals across 14 cities with over 7,300 beds, and a talented pool of 4,000 doctors and an employee strength of over 11, 000.