Dr Anand Mishra, Professor and Head of Department of Endocrine Surgery, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, organised a ramp walk for breast cancer survivors including men with breast cancer, to focus awareness on early detection and treatment of breast cancer. He shares his views on how he went about it as also his future plans.
Please share with us your journey with breast cancer patients.
I am working with breast cancer since my early days of a trainee senior resident doctor specialising in breast and Endocrine Surgery at Sanjay Gandhi Post graduate institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. I have been treating breast cancer as a consultant since 2009 when I joined as faculty in department of surgery at KGMU Lucknow and also as professor and head of department for Endocrine and Breast Surgery.
What was the idea behind organising the ramp show for breast cancer survivors? Please tell us how you went about it.
In May 2019 we formed a Lucknow support group with fifteen survivors and we tried to do sensitisation through them as to what is survivorship and patient advocacy. In the month of October which is celebrated for breast cancer awareness I wanted to hold a larger meeting of these survivors and invite them. I thought of ramp walk which can involve all survivors, to bring them on stage, provide empowerment and provide a message to the society about the awareness that cancer is curable, curable even in Tier 2/ B class cities like Lucknow if you complete the treatment, and curable in government public hospitals. We also managed to get a celebrated Bollywood film actress Ms Padmini Kolhapure to grace the occasion and to help further lift the spirit of those involved.
How was the response to your proposal?
Excellent and everybody was very happy whether they were survivors, their family members, or even people from society or media. Most survivors were very interested
5. Do you think local treatment is better from the family and patient perspective? If so, why?
There is this perception with most people in our country that Cancer cannot be treated unless one manages to go to Tata in Mumbai or some big hospital in Delhi. If a family does not have the resources to go to a big city for treatment, they feel dejected. I tried by way of involving more number of people for the ramp walk to tell people that a smaller city like Lucknow also has the means to treat Cancer. This would also give strength to the patients undergoing treatment here.
Did you face hurdles while trying to organise/execute this programme?
The main hurdles in trying to execute the program was manpower and finance. I was trying to organise the programme with the help of some colleagues at the University. We avoided hiring an Event Management company to lessen financial constraints. Naturally, it was a bit of a pressure on us. .
What kind of other awareness programmes regarding breast cancer have you been involved with?
In 2018 we organized a Pink half marathon of 21 Kms, cross country (10 Kms for men and 6 Kms for Women), walkathon of 2 kms for general people. This was a competitive sports event with a message to society for breast cancer awareness. The half marathon was with zero registration charge, together with the highest prize money till date in Uttar Pradesh (one lakh rupees for both men and women) and organized with the help of UP athletics association.
How much do you think awareness programmes can help in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer cases in our country?
Awareness is needed for many things in society, and most importantly, for bringing patients to hospitals for early detection.. Sixty per cent of our patients come to us in an advanced and metastatic stage. The awareness, we believe, will make them come to us much earlier. Patients will not get caught in alternate treatments, , will complete their own treatment, will not run to bigger cities, and will develop faith in the current modern treatment of allopathy medicine.
Please share with us your future plans regarding breast cancer awareness.
There is a plan to strengthen the Lucknow breast cancer support group so that it helps the current patients. I also want to sensitize the male population for breast cancer as they are also responsible for the health of female members in their house. They should not just be aware, but also work towards securing the health of women in their families..
