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THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

Unless we pin down the cause we cannot take preventive action. A close look at data available from 1982 to1991 also shows that blood cancers are increasing at a much faster rate than the overall cancer incidence in Indian metros. One would have thought that if this is what available data tell us- howsoever poor it may be-the Government would have done a lot to take appropriate action. But you are assuming too much.

The table shows that the incidence of blood cancers is much higher in Delhi than in other metros of India both for men and women.

While giving priority to preventive action, the Government must also simultaneously undertake measures to improve facilities for cancer treatment. Because Apollo is a private hospital, the media and the politicians have ranted and raved against its so-called "misdiagnosis", of Kumaramangalam. But my own experience with the public sector, AIIMS was absolutely appalling. Cancer cells were accumulating in my

 Table 1

Lifetime cancer incidence in India
  Male Female
  1990 1991 1990 1991
Barsi (Rural area) One out of One out of One out of One out of
  34 men 36 men 20 women 18 women
Bhopal One out of   One out of One out of
  15 men   13 women  
Delhi (metro) One out of   One out of One out of
  3 men 114 men nine women 10 women

Table 2

Annual incidence of blood cancers(average 1988-91) per 1,00,000 people
  Male Female
Delhi 14.5

9.2
Mumbai 10.1

7.2
Bangalore 9.8 6.6
Chennai 9.1 4.9
Bhopal 6.0 2.7
Barsi(Rural area) 3.7 1.5

left eye in front of the retina. I had no idea they were cancer cells. All I could see were black lines, which slowly became so many that I could not see from the eye. When I started seeing a thin line in my right eye. I panicked. Earlier, eye doctors had told me that many people see "floaters" in their eyes when they grow old and this was nothing to worry about. But, obviously, this was something different and I did not want to go blind. I went from one ophthalmologist to another getting almost nowhere. The professor specialising in retinal diseases at AIIMS was the most remarkable. He admitted he had never seen anything like it. He, however, had a hypothesis. For some unknown reason, the gel between the lens and the retina was becoming opaque. But why was it now happening in my right eye? He could not answer me. So I asked: "As I do not want to go blind, should I try seeking help abroad?" His answer was one that only Indian professionals are capable of. "No. What do they know more than us? Just trust in God. Everything will be fine soon." If I had listened to him and stopped my search, everything would have indeed been fine. I would have found the ultimate resolution for peace and contentment! - dead within a few months.

 

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