THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Chaibasa, June 14: Moving towards becoming the first state in the country to be cervical cancer-free, a mega health camp held today at Saranda forests screened over 500 female patients, mostly tribals, and detected that about 70 per cent of them suffered from genital swelling.
Jharkhand IMA Women Doctors Wing, State’s health and forest departments, and SAIL Management Gua jointly organized this “Mega Mahila Swasthya Camp” at SAIL Hospital, Gua, today.
10 women with cervical pre-cancer symptoms
10 women were detected to have had symptoms of cervical pre-cancer, and they were cured of cervical pre-cancer by giving colposcope-guided cryo treatment at the camp itself. Five women were found with cervical polyps and two women were also found suffering from pyometra.
The camp also detected an unmarried woman suffering from cervical cancer in an advanced stage. She was referred to RIMS, Ranchi for further treatment.
Along with this, one month’s supply of iron folic acid and calcium tablets was distributed free of cost to all the women who came to the camp.
Dr Bharti Kashyap, Chairperson, Women Doctors Wing IMA Jharkhand said that the objective of this camp
aign is to free the tribal, indigenous and poor women of this area from genital problems.
Focus on the Saranda region
“After setting up camps in the villages of Santhal Pargana, the women’s doctors wing of the Indian Medical Association has focused on the Saranda region and after the camp in Gua, Jyoti Suraksha Abhiyan and Janani Suraksha Abhiyan will be run in Noamundi, Kiriburu and Chakradharpur respectively and mega health camps will be organized for this,” Dr Bharti, who has been tirelessly running the campaign for the last 10 years, added.
Genital inflammation
Dr Bharti, an ophthalmologist, pointed out that genital inflammation later takes the form of cervical pre-cancer and this later becomes cervical cancer.
“Our objective is to provide the right treatment to 100 per cent of women suffering from genital inflammation and eradicate cervical pre-cancer from the root through cryo treatment so that Jharkhand can become a cervical pre-cancer-free state,” she added.
West Singhbhum DC lauds IMA women doctors’ wing
West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary, earlier inaugurating the camp, said that he is serious about the elimination of cervical and breast cancer.
He lauded the IMA Women Doctors Wing for showing great promptness in the examination and treatment of hundreds of women in this scorching heat. “In future also, the administration will provide full cooperation in the camps of Noamundi and Chakradharpur,” he assured.
DDC Sandeep Meena also appreciated the camp organized in the area of Dudhraj of Saranda and said that such events should be organized in future as well.
Chief General Manager of SAIL Kamal Bhaskar and DFO Saranda Forest Division Avirup Sinha were also present at the function.
67,000 women die of cervical cancer every year
Civil Surgeon Dr Sahir Paul said that every year 67,000 women die of cervical cancer in the country. “Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among all types of cancer spread in India. This type of cancer is the most preventable and successfully curable cancer,” he added.
The organizers of the Mega Women Health Camp, Women Doctors Wing and DFO (Saranda Forest Division) Avirup Sinha later felicitated West Singhbhum DC Kuldeep Chaudhary, DDC Sandeep Meena, Civil Surgeon Dr Sahir Paul, CGM of SAIL Kamal Bhaskar and Biplab Das of SAIL Hospital, Gua, Medical Officers of Sadar Hospital, Jamshedpur and Chaibasa, including District Program Officer Vijay Kumar and District Program Coordinator Rohit Kumar.
Dr Bharti Kashyap spearheading campaign for 10 years
Notably, Dr Bharti Kashyap, heading the Jharkhand IMA Women’s wing, has been continuously working to make Jharkhand free from cervical cancer for the last 10 years.
Under this campaign, digital video colposcopes and cryo machines have been installed in 14 big government hospitals of the state for the identification of genital swelling and treatment of cervical pre-cancer.
Since 2014, almost all the government gynaecologists of Jharkhand have been trained by cancer gynaecologists from Delhi and Kolkata for examination and cryo treatment using a digital video colposcope. Also, in every Mega Mahila Shivir, 30 to 40 government gynaecologists are trained on digital video colposcope and cryo machine, so that there is no hindrance in the examination and treatment of needy women. Due to repeated training, now it does not take them as much time in OPD for cervical inflammation i.e. pelvic inflammatory disease, VIA and VILLI examination of cervical pre-cancer and cryo treatment as it used to take earlier.
In this way, a very large network of government gynaecologists trained by the Women Doctors Wing has been created in the state.
Dr Bharti also campaigned for vision in Saranda
Earlier, in 2013 and 2016, she examined the eyes of lakhs of government school children and elderly people in the remote villages of Saranda region under the Drishti Suraksha Abhiyan. Thousands of children and elderly people were also given free spectacles. Not only this, hundreds of children were operated on for cataracts and sent back to school.
What is the Jharkhand Model?
The Women Doctors’ Wing has developed a Jharkhand Model in collaboration with the Jharkhand government to eradicate cervical cancer disease in women in Jharkhand.
In 2021, the Health Department, the Jharkhand Government and the team of Women Doctors led by Dr Bharti Kashyap, after a long discussion with the country’s top cancer gynaecologists, concluded that if we follow the third part of the WHO’s cervical cancer elimination policy 90-70-90 and modify it and implement it in Jharkhand, then a low-resource state like Jharkhand can get a lot of success in cervical cancer elimination. Then it was decided to implement this Jharkhand model, created for a state with limited resources, in the state.
In 2021, this decision was sent to all the civil surgeons for implementation by the then-campaign director. After talking to the cancer specialist, it came to light that if we screen 6% of such women of reproductive capacity, who are in the high-risk category or who have possible symptoms of genital inflammation and if we treat them, then we will be successful in screening 100% of the women suffering from genital inflammation. The number of such women of reproductive capacity in Jharkhand is currently 2,70,000 (two lakh seventy thousand).
The health department, acting on this, made it mandatory to test 6% of such women in 2021. Apart from this, under the Surakshit Matritva Yojana, screening of women coming after twelve weeks of childbirth and the women accompanying them, who were in the high-risk category or who have any possible symptoms, was also made mandatory.
The Health Department has implemented this model in Jharkhand and through this, screening of 6% of such women of reproductive capacity who have symptoms of genital inflammation or fall in the high-risk category of cervical cancer.
A letter to this effect has been sent to the civil surgeons several times by NRHM. It has also been ensured that the pregnant women who come for checkups in the first week of the month during pregnancy, they and their accompanying women should also be tested if they have any symptoms of genital inflammation or fall in the high-risk category for cervical cancer.
This initiative has brought very positive results. A target of 2,70,678 (two lakh seventy thousand six hundred seventy eight) was set by the Women Doctors Wing, IMA and the State Health Department for cervical cancer screening in the financial year 2021-2022 from April 2021 to March 2022. And till now a total of 3,49,784 such women of reproductive potential have been screened.
