In a recent article entitled Delivery of cancer care in rural India: Experiences of establishing a rural comprehensive cancer care facility published in the Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol , Pr Banavali from the Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Center, Mumbai, India reports an interesting experience of establishement of a a rural comprehensive cancer care facility in India. According tp Pr Banavali, the establishment of A Model Rural Comprehensive Cancer Center should rely on 3 main principles/goals : 1) Creating health awareness about all cancers in general and specifically about oral, breast and cervical cancers; 2) Screening for precursors/early stages of cervix, breast and oral cancer among women, and oral cancer among men; and 3) Treatment of cases detected in these screening camps.

Of note, all the chemotherapy protocols used at BKLWH are developed using drugs listed on the WHO essential drug list and severral metronomic scheduling of anti-cancer therapies protocols were developed for patients with recurrent disease, which were found to be affordable and effective and were then later used in newly diagnosed cancer patients with advanced disease at presentation. Interestingly, the cost of drugs is low, but these protocols can be delivered with minimal infrastructure. Using this pilot data, some of these metronomic therapies are now being investigated in phase II/III trials at TMH.

In this article Pr Banavali aslo focusses on: Cancer Demographics in India, The Parody of Cancer Care in India, Access to Cancer Care in Rural Areas, Support Needed to Develop Rural Comprehensive Cancer Centers

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