Thiruvananthapuram: Hundreds of cancer patients in the district are at the receiving end as the financial aid scheme rolled out by the District Medical Office fails to cover the beneficiaries. This year the DMO has received over 2,400 applications for the financial aid for patients, who are undergoing cancer treatment.
The DMO had sanctioned fund to the tune of Rs 14 lakh from the plan fund for providing treatment support for cancer patients. The plan is to provide Rs 6,000 per year for every patient. An official of the DMO said that the fund is inadequate as the turn out of the applicants were more.
"The number of cancer cases is on the rise in the district. Majority of the women applicants have breast cancer and colon cancer comes second. We would be able to give assistance for only 234 patients with the sanctioned fund. We have decided to urge the government to allot more funds for the purpose. We have a cancer specialist who screens every application and some of the applicants are not available as the financial aid is strictly for patients undergoing treatment," said an official.
According to statistics, every year around 150 in 1 lakh men is reported with cancer and close to 150 in 1 lakh women are reported with cancer.
Every year around 50,000 new cancer cases are being reported in the state, according to the statistics released by Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Thiruvananthapuram. Statistics show that the number of cancer cases in the state exceeds the national average.
