How Fear Of Covid Is Taking A Toll On Other Critically Ill

From Cancer To Heart Ailments, Patients Putting Off Key Therapies

- Durgesh Nandan Jha

New Delhi: Sneha Singh, 33, was operated upon for breast cancer in February, following which she had to undergo radiation therapy to ensure that the disease didn’t recur. But due to the lockdown and the fear of being exposed to Covid-19, Singh delayed her sessions for nearly six months.

Finally, when she visited Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in August, doctors found that the disease had not only come back but it had also spread. “Though she is undergoing treatment, chances of her survival are bleak now. She now has advanced-stage breast cancer,” Dr Ramesh Sarin, senior consultant, Surgical Oncology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said.

Cancer treatment, Dr Sarin added, has been worst-hit due to Covid crisis. “Early screenings, mammograms (low-energy xray to detect breast cancer) have dipped by 80%. Also, before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, we had a minimum of 200 monthly visits by women for postoperative follow-ups, which are vital to monitor their health and progress. This number has declined by nearly 70% since the lockdown,” Dr Sarin said.

Apollo’s cancer unit has witnessed an increase in patients with stage-2 and stage-3 cancer in September-October which, the doctors said, implies that the cancer had progressed in the past six months from a treatable stage-1 phase to a complex, life-threatening stage-3 in many cases.