SRINAGAR: Despite the increasing number of cancer cases in the Kashmir Valley, there is a serious shortage of PET-CT scanning machines for staging and evaluating treatment responses.
With only one such machine available at SKIMS Soura, patients at GMC Srinagar face many challenges to access timely and accurate cancer diagnoses.
GMC Srinagar, where around 7,000 new cancer cases have been registered, is functioning without a PET Scan machine which is used for cancer detection and cancer treatment assessment.
Citing oncologists, KNO said that in the modern practice of oncology, PET-CT has appeared as a game changer in the management of cancer, but the valley has only one machine.
Dr. Shabnam, an oncologist, said that there is only one PET Scan machine available at SKIMS Soura and there is a need for more such machines in the valley.
Dr. Aijaz, another oncologist, said that the PET Scan constitutes a major advance in the initial diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, prognosis, monitoring and relapse throughout the course of the disease.
The doctors said that there is an immediate need for such a facility at GMC Srinagar as cancer cases in Kashmir are on the rise and such patients have no other options but to visit SKIMS Soura.
They say that patients have to wait for a long time to get their turn, which is not easy for such patients while some visit outside Kashmir for diagnosis and treatment.
Medical experts said that most patients cannot afford to visit private clinics or outside the valley, thus delaying their diagnosis and treatment, which is very essential for cancer treatment.
“PET-CT helps doctors work out the best treatment and helps detect primary sites, thus influencing the choice of chemotherapy,” they said, adding: “It would be in the interest of the community and also for better health facilities .if the PET Scan facility will be available in the SMHS hospital.
According to data from the Union Health Ministry, 51,577 cancer cases were reported in JK in the last four years (2019-2022) with 12,396 in 2019, 12,726 cases in 2020, 13,060 cases in 2021, and 13.3922 cases in 2021.
A total of 35,623 people in JK died of cancer between the years 2018 and 2022, which means that 6,824 cancer patients were reported to have died in 2018; in 2019, 7,003 deaths were reported; in 2020, 7,189 deaths were reported; in 2021, 7,211 deaths were reported; and in 2022, 7,396 deaths from cancer patients were reported.
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