'MenCan' initiative for cancer awareness
Mumbai: There is an urgent need to spread awareness about "men's cancers," which have been steadily increasing in numbers in recent years, said doctors of
Tata Memorial Centre
(TMC) while setting up an initiative called 'MenCan' on Thursday.
The initiative stems from the fact that many men refuse to discuss symptoms of these cancers - prostate, testicular, and penile - in the early stages. So, 60% to 70% of Indian patients reach out for medical help only in the advanced stages of their cancer.
"TMC has special initiatives for women's cancers as well as paediatric cancers, but this would be the first time we will raise awareness about men's cancers," said director (Academics) Dr Sripad Banavali.
The hospital gets 1,100 fresh cases of
prostate cancer
and about 250 to 300 cases each of testicular and penile cancers every year.
Dr Gagan Prakash, chief of the uro-oncology division in the hospital, said that there are many misconceptions about men's cancer. "Men do not come forward about these cancers because they are afraid of how society will treat them.
Due to this, the number of patients with all three cancers is increasing due to the hesitation of men in seeking medical help," he added.
The reverse is true in the West. "In developed countries, the majority of the men with these cancers arrive in the early stages, and the survivorship is over 90% for, say,
testicular cancer
," said Dr Amit Joshi, head of medical oncology at ACTREC - the Tata Memorial Centre's hospital in Kharghar - during the initiative's launch.
The MenCan initiative will focus on creating awareness and raising funding for patients who can't afford treatment. It will have an arm for psycho-social counselling, including helping survivors with getting jobs. "Many of these cancer survivors have a long life after cancer. We want to ensure survivors rehabilitated," said ACTREC director Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi.
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