Thoughts from the ‘Tropic of Cancer’

by Archit Watts

I LIVE in the Malwa area of Punjab that has earned notoriety for being the favourite haunt of the “Emperor of all Maladies”. Cancer is not just a disease that got Siddhartha Mukherjee the coveted Pulitzer, it is a dreaded disease that has stricken this hinterland of the state, making the government take note of the lives being lost to this scourge.

As a journalist, I have traversed this region and come across villages and families affected by cancer. But little did I realise that the devastated lives I have documented for the print will replay itself in my own life when my unsuspecting progenitor, all of 59, fell prey to it three years ago.

Life then came a full circle for me.

A pious man, spartan in his habits, he did not smoke, was a teetotaller and believed in the virtues of a vegan diet, all qualities that are supposed to keep the disease at bay.

Now, I am not alone in my grief. My sense of loss and its impact on my life may only be marginal and will pale before those whose lives have been destroyed by the disease, both emotionally and economically. But it sure has set me thinking.

How to combat the disease over which we do not seem to have much control?

Perhaps the answer lies in the dictum, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Most times, the disease spreads because the warning signs are ignored and preventive health check-ups are not undertaken. But again, there is no simplistic solution. Does the disease go undetected because the healthcare and diagnostic facilities in small towns are not on a par with those in cities? And by the time one goes to a bigger health centre, it becomes a case of too little, too late. The interpreters of maladies have only consolation prize to offer by then.

My father suffered from fever and after some tests, was referred to a major medical institute where a tumour was detected in his liver. But by then, the disease had reached an advanced stage, where the curative option was not available. He departed this world less than six months after a session of chemotherapy.

It was only after my bereavement that I realised that it is not just the high and mighty like Surinder Kaur Badal, wife of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, or Kanwarjeet Singh Brar ‘Sunny’, son of former CM Harcharan Singh Brar, to whom the disease was fatally attracted to. The commoners have fared worse when it comes to confronting cancer because of its capital-intensive nature.

The government keeps evolving health programmes and attention no doubt has shifted to the intensity of the scourge of cancer. But just as it has been possible for the government to eradicate diseases like polio and small pox, and control tuberculosis through intensive programmes, there is a need to press the pedal for preventive programmes on cancer, including conducting awareness drives and prescribing dos and don’ts.

Priority should be given to areas that are prone to the disease. People should be encouraged to opt for prevention to remove the stigma, just as is being done with mental health programmes to bring them out of the closet.

The battle is long drawn, but the cause is not lost. And one may take heart from the utterance of Barack Obama: “For the loved ones we’ve all lost, for the family we can still save, let’s make the country that cures cancer once and for all.”

Courtesy: The Tribune