Lessons learned from Covid could support policies to prevent and treat and cure cancer’

New Delhi, Aug 23 : The lessons learned from Indias fight against the pandemic could be used as a valuable guide in our specific policies to prevent and treat of cancer Health Minister of the Union Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the panel, he said: "Any initiative related to controlling cancer and management cannot be carried out in isolation, but must be taken on with the whole of government and the whole of society perspective, as is the case with our experience in the management of the pandemic, as the issue is interconnected across different management spheres, including government and non-government areas." The Secretary for Health of Union said the fact that the pandemic has taught us that health is not the sole duty of just the Union Health Ministry but jointly addressed by different departments in the Centre and through state governments "Health does not just reside in the tertiary healthcare facilities but it also has a massive impact in the secondary and primary levels, too.Tertiary health facilities of ministries like railways, labor steel, ONGC, atomic energy and more.These can be combined to create a massive and long-lasting network of healthcare facilities to have an exponential impact of healthcare delivery," he noted.

The keynote speaker highlighted the paradigm shift the National Health Mission (NHM) has recently undergone, he noted that not only primary and secondary healthcare services are being provided, but also referrals with links to secondary health services are now being offered by a complete end-to-end delivery system.Bhushan identified the need for framing, sharing, and adherence of common SOPs that are based on research for the management of critical care as another lesson for managing cancer.

He stressed that capacity development is also a must with transparent communication with all stakeholders and feedback processes established in place "We must adapt and encourage health technology, the prevention and treatment of cancer, such as the use of telemedicine to improve access to healthcare," he stressed.avr/pgh .