Latest news with #DCCCs
New Indian Express
23-05-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Day care chemotherapy centres across Karnataka soon: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao
BENGALURU: To help cancer patients who have to travel long distances for treatment, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday announced that District Day Care Chemotherapy Centres (DCCCs) will soon be opened across the state. These centres, to be set up under a 'hub-and-spoke model,' aim to decentralise cancer care and bring chemotherapy services closer to patients' homes. Initially, the centres will be established in medical colleges across 16 districts. Karnataka reports nearly 70,000 cases annually, with breast, cervical, oral, lung, and colorectal cancers being the most common, according to the ICMR-NCRP 2023 data. The minister said 60% of patients have to travel over 100 km to reach chemotherapy centres in Bengaluru, Hubballi, or Mysuru, often leading to treatment drop-out rates of up to 30% due to costs and logistical challenges.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
District chemotherapy centres to enhance accessibility
District Day Care Chemotherapy Centres In a significant move aimed at bridging the gap between rural and urban healthcare delivery, the Karnataka government is rolling out(DCCC) across the state under a hub-and-spoke model. The initiative seeks to decentralise cancer care and improve accessibility, particularly for patients in remote per the latest report by the Indian Council of Medical Research–National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP 2023), Karnataka records nearly 70,000 new cancer cases annually. The most common types include breast cancer (18%), cervical cancer (14%), oral cancer (12%), lung cancer (8%), and colorectal cancer (6%). Alarmingly, the incidence rate of oral cancer in the state stands at 12 cases per one lakh population, surpassing the national average. Similarly, breast cancer incidence among women is 35 per lakh, and cervical cancer affects 15 per lakh access to chemotherapy remains a challenge. According to Health Department officials, nearly 60% of cancer patients in Karnataka are forced to travel over 100 km, often to major cities such as Bengaluru, Hubballi, or Mysuru, for chemotherapy sessions. This not only causes logistical strain but also leads to high dropout rates of up to 30%, as patients struggle with the costs and effort involved in repeated hospital official said that the DCCC project has been conceptualised to address these challenges and deliver equitable, cost-effective, and continuous cancer care at the district level. 'The model involves establishing district-level 'spoke'centres connected to tertiary 'hub' hospitals via Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), allowing for shared resources, referrals, and training,' said the this framework, hub hospitals, which are tertiary cancer centres, will continue to provide advanced clinical services such as complex treatments, specialised diagnostics including PET-CT scans and molecular profiling, as well as training and telemedicine support. They will also monitor treatment quality and guide spokes in clinical spoke centres, or DCCCs, will focus on delivering outpatient chemotherapy to stable patients, particularly adjuvant and palliative chemotherapy. These centres will also conduct basic pre-treatment diagnostics, maintain a drug inventory, and provide essential support services such as pain management, counselling, and palliative care. Each unit will have a dedicated medical team, including a visiting medical oncologist, trained nurses, a physician, a pharmacist, and a treatment available within home districts, travel time and expenses will reduce drastically, significantly benefiting patients. The out-of-pocket expenditure is expected to decline by up to 40%, and the convenience of local treatment is likely to enhance adherence and reduce dropout the DCCCs are expected to help decongest tertiary care centres, allowing them to focus on complex cases. The district-level centres will also integrate with national screening programs like the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NPNCD) to ensure early detection and timely DCCC will function according to pre-approved treatment protocols aligned with the essential medicine list of the Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST). The performance of these centres will be closely monitored using key indicators such as patient turnout, treatment completion rates, adverse event tracking, and cost comparison with private sector benchmarks, said a Health Department official.
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Daycare chemo centres in Karnataka's 16 districts to improve cancer care
Bengaluru: The govt will launch daycare chemotherapy centres in 16 districts to improve access to cancer treatment and reduce the burden on tertiary hospitals. The initiative aims to address the challenges faced by cancer patients, particularly those from rural areas. Health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said: "Karnataka records approximately 70,000 new cancer cases annually. The most common cancers are breast (18%), cervical (14%), oral (12%), lung (8%) and colorectal (6%). Oral cancer incidence in the state stands at 12 cases per 1 lakh population, which is higher than the national average, while the incidence of breast cancer is 35 cases per 1 lakh women population." Statistics provided by the department revealed that 60% of cancer patients travel over 100km to access chemotherapy services in cities like Bengaluru, Hubballi and Mysuru. "We saw high dropout rates — 30% — due to cost and logistics of repeated visits," he said. According to the minister, the new centres will be set up under hub-and-spoke model, in which tertiary care hospitals will serve as hubs and district-level hospitals will act as spokes. In Karnataka, they will be set up through an MoU between tertiary care centres and district daycare chemotherapy centres (DCCCs). The hubs will handle complex procedures and diagnostics, while DCCCs will provide outpatient chemotherapy, palliative care, counselling and basic laboratory investigations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 월 2만원으로 저소득 아이들의 한끼 선물하기 굿네이버스 더 알아보기 Undo "The centres are expected to reduce travel time for patients, bring down out-of-pocket expenses by an estimated 40% and improve treatment adherence by making services more accessible. For hospitals, it will decongest the burden on tertiary centres," he explained. Each DCCC will be staffed with a visiting medical oncologist, two trained nurses, physician, pharmacist and counsellor. Drug procurement will follow standardised protocols based on the essential medicines list issued by Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST). "The districts where DCCCs are being established are Bagalkot, Ballari, Bengaluru Urban/Rural, Ramanagara, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Dharwad, Haveri, Kolar, Mysuru, Tumkur, Udupi, Vijayanagara and Vijayapura," the minister added.
Deccan Herald
22-05-2025
- Health
- Deccan Herald
Daycare chemotherapy centres at 16 Karnataka dist hospitals from today
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the hub-and-spoke model programme in Mysuru on Friday, operationalising the DCCCs at 16 district hospitals, under the Health Department, at once.
The Hindu
22-05-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Chief Minister to launch District Day Care Chemotherapy project in Mysuru today
Starting Friday, cancer patients in need of follow-up chemotherapy in 16 districts can get it in their nearby district hospitals. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will symbolically launch the District Day Care Chemotherapy project in Mysuru on Friday. Giving details of the project, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told presspersons on Thursday that the day care chemotherapy centres that will be launched simultaneously in 16 districts will function on a hub and spoke model. So far, cancer patients had to visit either the State-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi, or private hospitals for chemotherapy. Depending on the number of chemotherapy sessions prescribed, patients had to either get admitted or travel back and forth for follow-up therapy. Now, with the day care centres, patients can get follow-up chemotherapy sessions for solid tumours at the nearest district hospital. Karnataka reports approximately 70,000 new cancer cases (incidence of cancer) annually according to ICMR-NCRP 2023 report. The leading cancer sites include breast (18%), cervical (14%), oral (12%), lung (8%), and colorectal (6%). The incidence of oral cancer in Karnataka is higher than the national average at 12 cases per one lakh population. While the incidence of breast cancer is 35 cases per one lakh female population, incidence of cervical cancer is 15 cases per one lakh women population. 'However, 60% of patients travel more than 100 km for chemotherapy owing to centralised services in major cities, such as Bengaluru, Hubballi, and Mysuru. Due to these logistical issues and travel cost, over 30% of patients drop out of treatment and this has created a need for district day care chemotherapy centres (DCCC),' the Minister said. These centres will not only reduce the urban-rural disparity in cancer care but also minimise travel/hospitalisation costs for stable patients while preventing patients dropping out of treatment, he said. Hub and spoke model The centres to be run on a 'hub and spoke' model, will be established through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between tertiary care centres and district day care chemotherapy centres. The 16 hub hospitals that have been empanelled are responsible for clinical services. These centres will also manage treatment-related complications, provide specialised diagnostics and staging, conduct PET-CT scan, do molecular profiling, and advanced biopsies apart from providing pathology and radiology support for spoke centres, the Minister said. The spoke centres where DCCCs will function provide chemotherapy administration, adjuvant/palliative chemo, pre-chemo workup, basic lab tests and ECG monitoring. Jan Aushadi Kendras closure only on government hospital premises Clarifying that no sale and purchase of drugs/medicines will be permitted on government hospital premises, Mr. Dinesh Gundu Rao said all Jan Aushadi Kendras running on hospital premises will be closed down. 'There are around 1,400 such kendras in the State and of these, around 180 are functioning on hospital premises. Our policy is to provide free medicine to patients. With such centres running on hospital premises, there are chances of misuse and doctors can write prescriptions for patients to buy from there. We want to stop this,' he reiterated. 'No need to panic about COVID at this stage' Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who asserted that there is no need to panic about COVID-19 at this stage, said the State is closely monitoring the situation. 'We have been getting sporadic COVID-19 cases and as of now there are 32 active cases in the State. But this is not an outbreak of the new strain,' he said. Pointing out that there are no guidelines or instructions from the Centre as of now, the Minister said the State's Technical Advisory Committee is monitoring the situation. 'As of now there is no need for us to step up testing or initiate any measures,' he added.
