A new study has found that the likelihood of timely cancer treatment for patients in India has increased by nearly 36% over the past six years, attributing this improvement to the Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).
Timely treatment is defined as beginning within 30 days of a cancer diagnosis.
According to a Times of India, citing a report published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, the study examined the treatment history of 6,695 cancer patients across seven major hospitals in India, revealing that most began treatment within 20 days of diagnosis. Only a few patients experienced delays of up to two months.
The research also indicated that patients diagnosed after 2018 were 36% more likely to start treatment in a timely manner compared to those diagnosed between 1995 and 2017, added the report.
The Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), a central health initiative launched in 2018, aims to provide annual health coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisations to low-income and vulnerable families. Recently, the government expanded the scheme to include all senior citizens aged 70 and older, regardless of income.
The study claims that timely treatment access has improved by 30% for those not enrolled in the health scheme, while AB-PMJAY beneficiaries experienced a 90% increase.
Led by Dr. Prinja Shankar from PGIMER-Chandigarh and funded by the Department of Health Research in the health ministry, the study highlights several factors contributing to delayed treatment.
Key issues include poor education, lower socio-economic status, socio-cultural beliefs, gender disparities, distance from healthcare facilities, and insufficient financial protection, such as insurance. These factors place the poor and vulnerable at a significant disadvantage.
An official from the National Health Authority (NHA) said that AB-PMJAY has helped to narrow this gap to some extent.
“Now, the poor don’t have to think about the cost as they have assurance of treatment up to Rs 5 lakh,” Times of India report quoted the official as saying.
AB-PMJAY comprises 557 health benefits packages for cancer treatment.
The Lancet study found that cancer patients requiring radiotherapy experienced the longest delays in treatment initiation. In high-income countries, there is typically one radiotherapy unit for every 250,000 people, equating to about four machines per million.
Applying this standard to India suggests a need for 5,000 radiotherapy units, while currently, there are fewer than 1,000, resulting in a shortfall of over 4,000 machines, added the report.
The researchers recommend that the government enhance radiotherapy infrastructure, promote local production of quality equipment like linear accelerators, and make radiation treatment more affordable and equitable by refining existing health benefit packages under AB-PMJAY.
Additionally, since unknown cancer stages contribute to delays, they emphasize the need to expand population coverage through screening programmes.
With inputs from agencies
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Lancet study hails India’s Ayushman Bharat health scheme in fighting cancers
