HCG cancer centre conducts 549 surgeries in April-May

Nashik: At a time when most hospitals in the state were reluctant to admit cancer patients let alone conducting surgeries in view of Covid-19 outbreak, Nashik’s HCG Manavata Cancer Centre conducted over 500 surgeries in the last two months.
While 30% patients belonged to Nashik, the remaining 70% were from other parts of the country. Director of Manavata Cancer Hospital Raj Nagarkar said that some hospitals were conducting selected cancer surgeries; however, at HCG Manavata Cancer Centre, surgeries related to intestines, stomach, throat, mouth, uterus, etc.were performed.
Nagarkar said that a total of 549 surgeries were conducted in the lockdown period (April-May), including 35 robotic surgeries.
According to him, the scare of Covid-19 was initially huge. Even cancer hospitals were asked not to take up any surgeries given the low immunity among cancer patients. However, as time passed, the government policies changed and the administration announced relaxations in the rules allowing treatment of cancer patients from April.
“Nonetheless, many patients may not have been able visit hospitals due to lockdown. Following the lockdown, a large mumber of cancer patients had to stay home which eventually led to a break in their treatment, resulting in advancement of their illness. Also, in some cases, early detection of cancer also got delayed due to people not being able to visit hospitals. The side-effects of this delay in the treatment would be felt in the coming couple of years,” said Raj Nagarkar.