Cutting cancer treatment costs must be a national effort

Bangladesh can bring down the cost of cancer treatment by way of initiating a national programme aimed at battling the disease, said a top physician. 

Anselm Lee, senior consultant for paediatric haematology and oncology at Singapore-based Parkway Cancer Centre (PCC), a leading hospital in the region, said it would be very difficult to change anything at a personal level.

“Surgery and the use of facilities are all expensive in terms of paediatric treatment. Sometimes we need to use special machinery for the treatment of children that you don't usually use for adults.”

One of the machines that the hospital uses for stem cell collection is especially made for children because of the small size of their bodies. “So these are all expensive investments that a healthcare facility has to bear.”

But there is a way to bring down the cost of treatment, according to the expert.

“If we are to make it more affordable, it must be a national programme,” he told The Daily Star in an interview in Dhaka last week.

Cancer is a deadly disease that not only affects the patients' lives but also their families. The silver lining is that constant advancements in medicine and medical technology can help the affected win the battle against the disease, he said.

“I can assure the patients that they can receive treatment that is as good as in any other developed country because we have the information and equipment needed to treat a patient. We can give them the most reliable treatment they can receive,” said Lee.  

PCC offers patients the most advanced and scientifically-proven treatments, he added.

Parkway's cancer treatment is available at the group's hospitals -- Gleneagles Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Mount Elizabeth Novena in Singapore, as well as at a specialised centre in the city state.

Lee, who graduated from the faculty of medicine, University of Hong Kong, in 1986, was in Dhaka to meet officials of the Parkway representative office in Dhaka and the doctors the hospital works with.

PCC is home to a comprehensive suite of cancer treatments, delivered by a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses, counsellors and other paramedical professionals.

“Every day, and for every patient, our team works hard to deliver holistic cancer care in a safe and soothing environment. They are aided by the latest technologies and proven innovative therapies to achieve optimal clinical outcomes,” said Lee.

“We are able to generate an ecosystem where patients can have a choice.”

Lee acknowledges that cancer treatment is expensive, and the treatment is getting more and more expensive because of the continuous research and investment.

At Parkway, Lee is the only paediatric oncologist, and one of the six doctors with the same level of expertise.

He said a country's health system must look at the special needs involved with cancer patients.

“By using resources to counter this at a national level, you can have facilities that can tend to a large number of children across the country. That would definitely help bring the cost down to a reasonable level that most individuals can afford.”

He said cancer in children in terms of types and variety is very different from adults. In the clinical outcomes, children do much better than adults, he added.

If children receive proper treatment, 75 percent of them survive into adulthood. “A country's healthcare system has to look at child cancer as a special need to conquer.”

He said two of his previous patients, who he treated in the early 1990s, are now doctors.

“The hope is there. The first thing is you have to trust the treatment, doctors and hospitals. If not, no matter how good the treatment is, you can give up hope and die from the disease.”

One decade ago, Parkway did not have any specialty in paediatric oncology, prompting it to go a long way to bring Lee from Hong Kong.

He began the cancer treatment programme at Parkway. “We made the programme viable. We want to make sure that children's lives are better.”

About 200 new cases register with PCC every year. About a quarter of them will stay on to continue treatment in Singapore.

He said the treatment of cancer in Singapore is very expensive. “But patients can come for consultation, and will know what doctors at Parkway would do in individual case and can go back to their countries and have treatment as per their expectation.”

The oncologists in the patients' home countries can contact him to know more details about the treatment procedure, he added.