KARACHI: Health experts and medical scientists on Tuesday lamented that more than 10,000 children were diagnosed with different types of cancer in Pakistan every year and only 30 per cent of them survive while half of them were brought to hospitals too late for treatment when deadly ailment spread to other organs and parts of their bodies.

They said that lack of awareness about childhood cancer among parents, unavailability of facilities for their treatment and serious shortage of trained paediatric oncologists and support staff were the major reasons behind high mortality among such children.

Efforts were under way to achieve at least 60 per cent survival by 2030 for the children suffering from cancer.

They were speaking at an awareness session in connection with ‘International Childhood Cancer Day 2022’, organised by the department of paediatrics, haematology and oncology at the Indus Health Network. On the occasion, a walk was also held on the Indus Hospital premises to create awareness about childhood cancer, attended by senior doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and parents of the children suffering from cancer.

Speaking on the occasion, Indus Hospital chief executive officer (CEO) Dr Abdul Bari Khan said that every year, around 8,000 to 10,000 children were diagnosed with different types of cancer, of which over 70pc died due to a variety of reasons. Despite high mortality, childhood cancer was treatable if it was diagnosed earlier and patients were brought to health facilities without any delay, he added.

“In addition to these children, thousands of more children suffer from different types of cancer, but they never reach any health facility as their parents are unaware of the symptoms of the disease,” Prof Bari said and added that Indus Hospital Karachi had one of the best childhood cancer treatment facilities in the country with 85 beds.

“We are going to help establish childhood cancer treatment facilities at other hospitals in Balochistan, other cities of Sindh and remote parts of the country to save as much lives of children with cancer as possible,” he added.

Senior paediatric oncologist at Indus Hospital Karachi Dr Rafie Raza said prevalence of childhood cancer was 100 per million in Pakistan and added that around 8,000 to 10,000 children were annually diagnosed with childhood cancer, of which only 2,000 to 2,500 managed to survive in Pakistan.

“Childhood cancer survival rate in the developed countries is between 80 to 90pc while it is only 25-30pc in Pakistan because we don’t have top quality treatment facilities, trained oncologists and support staff as well as other modern facilities,” he said.

Unawareness among parents was also one of the main reasons behind high mortality among children with cancer, he added.

Another senior oncologist at Indus Hospital Dr Syed Ahmar Hamid deplored that around 40pc children with cancer were brought to hospitals for treatment when their cancer spread to all major organs of the body. He urged parents to keep an eye on the health of children and if anything unusual happened to them, they should take them to some qualified child specialist for examination.

Senior nursing supervisor at Indus Hospital Karachi Muhammad Younus Bhatti said quacks were one of the major reasons behind high mortality due to childhood cancer in Pakistan as they prevented parents from getting children treated.

Indus Hospital Karachi executive director and renowned oncologist Prof Dr Shamvil Ashraf, Pakistan Society of Paediatric Oncologists (PSPO) official and Aga Khan University Hospital chief medical officer Dr Asim Belgaumi, Dr Wasfa Farooq and others also spoke.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2022