Copyright thehindu
In a bid to strengthen cancer care treatment in government tertiary care hospitals in Tamil Nadu, the State government has given the nod to create 59 new posts in various institutions. Though a section of government doctors welcomed the move to address the human resources gap in cancer care, they noted that these were not new posts but those surrendered from various medical institutions under the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) and Research. According to a Government Order issued on November 3, the proposed Cancer Care Mission aims to reduce cancer-related morbidity and mortality by ensuring equitable and comprehensive access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship care. As cancer cases are projected to increase significantly in the coming years, with aggressive morphologies and early onset of cancers in younger adults, there is an urgent need to address the existing gaps in human resource to manage the rising cases and to strengthen the human resources for cancer care across the four-tiered tertiary healthcare delivery model - State Apex Centre, Regional Cancer Centres, Tertiary Cancer Care Centres and District Cancer Care Centres. In line with this, the government accorded administrative and financial sanction for creation of 59 new posts for strengthening cancer care treatment in 16 tertiary care hospitals, and granted permission to the DME to surrender an equal number of posts from various medical institutions. Majority of the posts being surrendered are of junior residents (JR). The posts were being created across medical, surgical and radiation oncology; with the majority of the centres getting at least three posts. P. Saminathan, president of Service Doctors and Post Graduates Association said they had earlier requested the Health department not to surrender JR posts, but to redistribute as per patient load and utilise it. There are some 570-odd posts of JRs across all departments in the 36 government medical colleges in the State, he said. “Now, many posts of JR are being surrendered to create 59 posts for cancer care. Creating posts to improve patient care for those with malignancies is a welcome move as till now, most patients have to travel to cities such as Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore for treatment. At the same time, keeping in mind the increase in the number of outpatients and in-patients, it would have been better if new post creations had been thought of,” he said. Another government doctor said that at a time when cancer incidence was on the rise, TN was setting an example by enabling patients to get treated in the government sector. “If new posts were created, then it would truly reflect the government’s objective. But by not creating new posts and resorting to redeployment, it is only increasing the workload of doctors,” he said.
