Govt to set up cancer institutes each costing Rs 100 cr: Anupriya Patel

She added, “Determining the goals of treatment and palliative care is an important first step, and health services should be integrated and people-centred. The primary goal is generally to cure cancer or to considerably prolong life. Improving the patient's quality of life is also an important goal. This can be achieved by supportive or palliative care and psycho-social support.”

Awareness for prevention of cancer and early detection of cancer is being carried out at all levels through NCD clinics at districts & CHC levels. However, higher level facilities for surgery, chemotherapy & supportive care are available only at district hospitals, said Patel. There are about 388 district NCD clinics and 2115 CHC NCD clinics functional in the country as on March 2017.

“India is a signatory to the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development and is committed to achieve the SDGs including SDG-3 to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. The new National Health Policy, 2017, which got approval by the union cabinet recently, envisages to attain the highest possible level of good health and well-being, through a preventive and promotive health care orientation in all developmental policies, and universal access to good quality health care services without anyone having to face financial hardship. This would be achieved through increasing access, improving quality and lowering the cost of healthcare delivery,” said the Minister.

The policy, while supporting the need for moving in the direction of a right based approach to healthcare is conscious of the fact that threshold levels of finances and infrastructure is a precondition for an enabling environment, to ensure that the poorest of the poor stand to gain the maximum and are not embroiled in legalities. “The policy, therefore, advocates a progressively incremental assurance based approach, with assured funding to create an enabling environment for realising health care as a right in the future,” stated Anupriya Patel.

She added, “Currently, women in India, like in other South East Asian countries, face numerous health issues, which ultimately affect their aggregate economic output. We all know that women are pivotal contributors to society in their roles as mothers, sisters, family members, and as socially responsible citizens. Addressing the gender, class or ethnic disparities that exist in healthcare and improving the health outcome, can contribute to women empowerment and socio-economic gain.”