LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, June 21: The national president of Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr. Sahajanand Prasad Singh has praised Dr. Bharti Kashyap’s Jharkhand Module for Cervical Cancer Eradication and said that it should be implemented in other states as well as the WHO should implement it in developing countries.
Dr Singh was in Jamshedpur to inaugurate the ‘Breast and Cervical Cancer Eradication Camp’ organised by the Women Doctors Wing I.M.A. under the joint aegis of the Jharkhand Health Department on June 19.
A total of 351 patients were examined in the camp out of which genital infection was found in a total of 210 women. Cervical pre-cancer was found in 12 women who were cured of cancer by colposcope-guided cryo treatment at the campsite itself.
Dr. Bharti Kashyap, National Co-Chair, Women’s Doctors Wing, Indian Medical Association said that the Cervical Cancer Eradication Campaign since 2015 has gained a new momentum and they have also added breast cancer screening to it.
Elimination of Cervical Cancer : Jharkhand’s ingenuity in crisis
The pessimism and the high incidence of deaths in women, particularly amongst young rural women, due to Cervical Cancer, has so sparked the imagination and grit in Dr. Bharti Kashyap, Jharkhand based ophthalmologist and her team, that it has enabled Jharkhand to evolve its very own road map, to move towards a cervical cancer free state.
Jharkhand scored a major hit in its fight against Cervical Cancer in 2014, when Dr.Bharti Kashyap, as President, Women Doctors Wing, Indian Medical Association, Jharkhand Chapter, began to organise free Mega Women Health camps cum Anemia and Cervical Detection and Prevention camps throughout the rural areas and in the state run Sadar Hospitals of Jharkhand.
In the next one year, the Women Doctors Wing (WDW), Jharkhand, led by Dr.Bhart Kashyap came out with multi -prongued strategy, that included joining hands with the state health department, to tackle the menace of cervical cancer. At these Mega Women Health Camps, . experts from Chittaranjan Cancer Institute, Kolkata, and Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, New Delhi, and Max Hospital New Delhi, were roped in, to lend a helping hand to detect and treat cases of pre-cervical cancer. Arrangements were also made, in association with the state Health Department, to provide training to gynaecologists working with the state health department on VIA Screening and Colposcope guided treatment.
Inspired by the efforts being made by WDW Jharkhand, the then Governor of Jharkhand, Droupadi Murmu took the initiative to equip 6 state-run Sadar Hospitals with cervical cancer screening and treatment equipment. Four MLAs were also encouraged to join hands to equip Sadar Hospitals located in their districts.
In addition, Dr.Bharti Kashyap, in her personal capacity, donated a Digital Video Colposcope with computer and Cryo Machine to Sadar Hospital at Ranchi.
Thus within a span of around 5 years, and as a result of WDW Jharkhand’s innovative campaigns, 11 out of 23 Sadar Hospitals of Jharkhand (50%) could be equipped with cervical pre cancer detection and treatment equipments. The training imparted to gynaecologists working with the state health department in cervical cancer diagnosis and colposcopy guided pre cancer cryo treatment, has helped create a pool trained manpower to tackle the menace of cervical cancer .
Dr.Bharti Kashyap and her team were quick to realise that first to strategy of WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy 2030 is not feasible in our situation
innoculating every girl child by the age of 15 in Jharkhand with HPV vaccination and screening at least 70 percent women twice by the time they attained 45 years of age, was quite difficult to achieve.
The Pandemic years threw fresh challenges, even halting holding of women health camps as a result of Covid restrictions.
However the innovative Dr.Kashyap took on a new role of coordinating with the state health department. As a result of her initiatives, the state government, for the first time , issued orders making screening of 6 percent women in the reproductive age group, mandatory by all state run hospitals in the state. On her suggestion, the state government has ordered that all pregnant women, turning up at state run hospitals across Jharkhand for ante natal check up, along with accompanying women attendants in the reproductive age group, be mandatorily screened for Cervical Cancer.
Her suggestion to include Breast Cancer detection and treatment alongside Cervical Cancer elimination efforts has also been accepted and implemented by the Jharkhand Government.
IMA National president finds this module v practical for other states of India and for developing countries .
Explaining the jharkhand module he said Jharkhand module of Dr Bharti Kashyap for eradication of cervical cancer from Jharkhand state
Here is the detail of the module
She has adopted third part of WHO 2030 strategy of cervical cancer elimination
She organised multiple web meeting with top most onco gynaecologists of india in presence of Hon’ ble Health minister of Jharkhand
And she came to the conclusion that if they screen six percent of reproductive age group women who are high risk category or have symptoms suggestive of cervical cancer then they will be able to catch 100% women of reproductive age group who are suffering from cervical disease and they can treat all of them
And this way they can aim to eliminate cervical cancer from their state
This way Dr Bharti Kashyap modified WHO
Strategy and made our own Jharkhand module which was easier to implement in our circumstances
She got issued two letters from government and made screening of 6 pcent women of reproductive age group mandatory who are in high risk category or have symptoms
On her suggestions government also made screening of pregnant women and their companions compulsory who fall under high risk or hav suggestive symptoms and who come for antenatal check up on 9th of every month with sahiyas for their antenatal check up under surakshit matrityva yojna
These two very important steps made Dr Bharti Kashyap achieve fifty pcent of the intended target
Their Target was screen and treat 270000 women of reproductive age group who have symptoms or who are from high risk category
and they were successful in screening and treating 127000 from April 2021 to March 2022
This way they achieved fifty percent of intended target and they are optimistic that in year 2022 _23 they would achieve 100 pcent target of screening and treatment of women of reproductive age group suffering from cervical disease
For a start, the Jharkhand module is impressive. Given the drain on state resources caused by Covid spanning more than 2 years, the Jharkhand Module needs to be replicated by all states of the country as well as by all low income group countries across the globe.
