Covid-19 fears made 80% breast cancer patients avoid hospital visit

VISAKHAPATNAM: Screening and treatment of

breast cancer

has been adversely affected in the last six months due to the

Covid-19

lockdown and the ongoing pandemic situation.


Since end-March, when the nationwide lockdown was enforced, nearly 80 per cent of new cancer patients decided to stay back at home by ignoring early symptoms, instead of coming to hospitals for screening. Patients already under treatment too suffered due to the lockdown, and while many of them are now turning up for follow-ups, the time lost and lack of treatment has led to the spreading of the cancer and move to

advanced stages

.

Dr P Raghuram, president of Association of Surgeons of India, said though hospitals had clear-cut segregation between Covid and non-Covid wards, panic and paranoia stopped many patients from visiting a hospital as they feared getting infected by the virus. In fact, hospital admission for cancer patients has plummeted by over 70 per cent in the last six months.

Dr K Muralikrishna Voonna, surgical oncologist and managing director of Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital in Visakhapatnam, said they had told patients to avoid screening programme in hospitals due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in April-May.

“We advised patients to do self-examination and come down for screening or

mammography

only if they felt a lump in the breast or other symptoms. We had also advised surgery for a few cases in March but all of them got delayed till September, and by then the disease had progressed from stage 2 to 3,” he said.


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