Amidst the struggle and strides that the world is making to come back to normalcy after putting behind the fear of COVID, the wave by a new variant is looming larger. It now seems that the COVID-19 virus will visit us now and then in different avatars. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the entire globe has experienced the worst form of crisis in every sphere of life.
The disease and the subsequent lockdown strained hospital resources and brought a considerable drop in hospital visits for affordable and best cancer care in Kolkata and many other cities across India. There were always fears that the crisis could result into a surge in the number of new cancer diagnosis, particularly the advanced cases. The data now shows that the fear was not unjustified. Apart from cancer treatment, cancer research also suffered a blow in the last two years.
Cancer researchers made a lot of progress in multiple fields from new-age screenings, surgical treatments to genome sequence, immunotherapy and many more. “The increasing number of new cancer cases can be partly attributed to increased awareness for regular screenings. Early detection is saving life”, confirms Arnab Gupta, an eminent oncologist, surgeon and the head of Saroj Gupta Cancer Centre and Research Institute.
Pandemic also affected cancer treatment. A sizeable number of cancer patients could not undergo chemotherapy or radiation as many hospitals were closed after some of their staff got infected. The delayed treatment only led to progression of the disease, especially in the advanced cancer cases. We have got reports that cancer research was also stalled due to the pandemic.
People were afraid of going out of home for their own safety and due to fear of strict monitoring by the police. As a result, they decided to postpone their regular check-up and screenings. Even those, who wanted to take the risk, could not reach out to the oncologist’s chamber or cancer care hospital due to strict COVID protocol.
“The cancellation and delaying of cancer screenings showed a marked rise in cancer-related death during the period of pandemic. The progress that we made in the last couple of decades seems to have gone in the reverse direction in the last couple of years”, lamented an oncologist from the best oncology hospital in India.
Good news is we can now reverse the ‘Reverse in Progress”. The situation seems to be under control and the world has now learned the art of coping with COVID. Vaccination has brought down the number of COVID deaths and dispelled the fear of infection and severity as well.
Researchers have pinpointed the following factors responsible for causing a dip in cancer deaths during the pre-COVID phase.
- Fewer smokers
- Improved tools for screening and diagnosis
- Targeted therapy
- Immunotherapy
If you are a cancer patient and have put off or cancelled diagnostic tests or screening during the pandemic, immediately schedule an appointment with your oncologist. The best way to improve the outcome of cancer treatment is to catch malignancy in early stage and continue with the screening at the scheduled time.