Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre which is part of the Narayana Hrudayalaya Multispecialty Hospital has been affiliated to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGHUHS) to conduct the fellowship training programme in oncology. There are five fellowship courses which will start from January 2010. These are Faciomaxillary, Maxillofacial implants, Breast cancer, medical oncology & haematology and head & neck cancer.

A total of ten candidates will be selected for the programme. For each of the five specialties it will be two students who will take on the fellowship, said professor Antony V Pais, senior consultant, Oncoplastic breast surgeon and chief of the breast unit, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre at a press conclave here.

There is need for oncology specialists as the number of cases are on the rise. Currently, the specialty is facing a serious expertise shortfall. The training will see a number of more doctors take on the specialty. Demand for oncology service is expected to rise rapidly, because of ageing and growth of the population, he added.

The meeting was organized as part of the first breast cancer awareness drive to be held across the country by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre. The programme will have a series of road shows, educational seminars and diagnostic camps to drive home the information that early detection is the cure to breast cancer. Early screening reduces mortality, simplifies breast conservation, cheaper reconstruction and prevents chemotherapy.

Currently in India, breast cancer incidence according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is one in 22 women who have chances to report the condition in her life time. There are 1.5 lakh new cases in the country reported annually. By 2015, the incidence could double. The incidence is higher in the urban cities compared to the rural areas. The factors attributing to the growing rise of the dreaded disease are unhealthy diets, late conception and early menopause.

The only way to save the cases is detection at the initial stages. For this the Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre has devised a computer audit to detect if a person will ever suffer from the disease, said professor Pais.

In her efforts to provide the much-needed care for scores of cancer patients, Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw chipped in around Rs 40 crore for the cancer centre that is set up within the Narayana Hrudayalaya Multispecialty Hospital. The facility which was set up four months ago has seen four month 600 patients to date.

The key objective of the facility is to offer affordable care and so no patients are refused care. For breast mastectomy, the cost is between Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 and is 10 per cent lower than the dedicated cancer government hospital, Kidwai Institute of Oncology.

The hospital has a bed strength of 1,400 beds and is equipped with advanced diagnostic and treatment options. According to Shaw, early diagnosis is the only way to ensure economies of scale.