After the story I wrote about KD who had a extensively invasive oral cancer we had been having quite a number of patients with malignancies who came to OPD. Although most of them look quite bizzare, just wanted to draw your attention to an unmet need for care for cancer patients in rural India.
12 year old boy with a biopsy proven soft tissue malignancy of the chest wall musculature who has been running from hospital to hospital for some sort of treatment. We were not equipped to treat it and we ultimately referred him to the Department of Oncology, Banaras Hindu University Medical College. It has almost been a year since the swelling started the size of a pea. I wonder if it is too late to do anything. The boy had quite a number of files of consultations at various centres – but none of them venturing into a definite treatment.
40 year old man with history of oral ulcers who came from almost 200 kms away in Bihar. I just could not understand why he did not go to a higher centre at either Gaya or Banaras which is nearer to his home. The lesion was quite invasive with the cheeks perforated at 2 places.
50 year old lady from one of our nearby villages who had an ulcer of the tongue. Surprisingly, a well known superspeciality teaching centre in a nearby city refused to entertain the possibility of malignancy. However, the family decided to take a second opinion where a biopsy was done which confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. The family wants to take the patient for treatment at either Mumbai or CMC, Vellore.
50 year old man with the history of a swelling of the right tonsil for the last 15 years which has started to bleed since the last 2 months. I’m definite that there is malignancy. He has requested for a referral to CMC, Vellore.
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