Chennai: Cancer specialists have said the number of breast cancer patients seeking treatment has declined by as much as 70 per cent in the last five months as people avoided visiting healthcare facilities fearing the Covid infection or were unable to come to a hospital due to lack of public transport. Such delayed treatment can have serious health repercussions, they said.
Dr K S Kirushna Kumar, head, radiation oncology, Meenakshi Mission Hospital, said, “Delayed treatment has a serious impact on morbidity and mortality of breast cancer patients. A stage II or stage III cancer can turn into stage IV cancer if treatment is delayed by as little as three to four months. While many well-to-do patients could still make it to the hospital for treatment in their personal vehicles, hardly any patient from poor socio-economic background could seek treatment as no public transport was available for them to commute. Attendants are also unwilling to accompany patients to the hospital fearing the Covid infection.”
According to Dr Krishnakumar Rathnam, senior consultant, medical oncology, “while coronavirus does not directly impact the outcome of breast cancer patients, those undergoing chemotherapy have low immunity, increasing the risk of infection. In fact, chemotherapy-taking patients have a 20 per cent chance of getting Covid. In such cases, we are trying to administer chemotherapy through tablets instead of injections so that the duration of hospital stay for the patients comes down and they can leave for home quickly.”