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A train offers hope to Punjab’s patients with cancer but it isn’t enough

BMJ 2014; 349 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g4484 (Published 08 July 2014) Cite this as: BMJ 2014;349:g4484

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Author's Reply

There was a valuable comment to the article:
"Growth" and "Development" would be fine if there were no sad consequences. We too should pause and consider whether we should not slow down?

This is a very important aspect especially for the policy makers of a country. The target of the policies should be "Sustainable Development" and not mere development. The emphasis should be to achieve long term results without injudicious selection of ill defined short term gains.

This is an Epidemic situation; the response should be prompt and the policy makers should be aware that if they act slow, the situation may become too worse to handle. There should be widespread promotion of oncology superspeciality training and research to dig into the root causes of this epidemic. Mere provision of discounts to cancer patients will prove futile if say 25% of the population is suffering from the dreaded disease.

I invite healthy discussion on this burning subject from all the readers.

kapoorakhil1987@gmail.com

Competing interests: No competing interests

08 July 2014
Akhil Kapoor
Resident Doctor
Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment & Research Centre
Bikaner, Rajasthan, India

Re: A train offers hope to Punjab’s patients with cancer but it isn’t enough

Dr Kapoor offers us here in England,

1. News of a railway system giving free travel for cancer sufferers and low fares for their carers. Note that there is no means testing. We should congratulate the Indian Railways.
2. An indication that the headlong intensive cultivation with chemicals, many banned in the West, may be responsible for the cancers.

Perhaps we in England bear no responsibility and this is not Union Carbide. However, our government, when offering and indeed promoting "modern agriculture" abroad should be careful of unintended consequences or collateral damage. This also applies to chemical control of vectors.

"Growth" and "Development" would be fine if there were no sad consequences. We too should pause and consider whether we should not slow down?

Competing interests: No competing interests

08 July 2014
JK Anand
Retired doctor
Free spirit
Peterborough
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