Chennai's Adyar Cancer Institute conducts awareness drive

Adyar Cancer Institute (WIA) on Tuesday conducted a Cancer awareness program inside the hospital and to counsel people on the importance of early detection of cancer.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. V. Shanta. Chairman of the Cancer Institute said- "Cancer is increasing due to an increase in human's lifespan. Earlier people hardly lived beyond the age of 70, now people are able to live beyond the age of 85-90. The older you live, the greater the chances of having cancer."

Another factor that leads to cancer is an unhealthy lifestyle, she claimed.

"The style of living nowadays, bad food habits, tobacco, drugs and alcohol consumption are causes for cancer. We are trying to create awareness but the process is very slow", she said.

She also outlined that the growth of technology has enormously benefited in the cure of cancer while urging for the government to aid those who cannot afford it.

"There is a phenomenal improvement and the number of cured cases has increased enormously because of advancements in the technology of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Due to limited resources and funding, every patient can not avail of health services and it should be the responsibility of the government and medical professionals to make it available to all the needy patients. We have all the health facilities which are available in all developed countries. The availability of health services to underprivileged needs to be improved", she added.

"It will be our responsibility to fulfill this need and this Cancer institute takes care of nearly 40 per cent of the patients who come to us and provide free world-class medical services to them. Our staff will continue to work and we will try to grow as much as possible", she added.