Bhubaneswar: Every cancer patient has different needs and it is important to have personalised care to address such individual needs, experts said while urging for tailor-made treatments.
“If a foreign country prescribes one thing for their patients, it may not suit our patients here. Our patients have their own stories, experiences, problems and emotions. We need to understand that while treating them,” Dr Deepak Rautray, director of Acharya Harihar PG Institute of Cancer, Cuttack, said.
He added, “Each patient has different problems, including socio-economic status and availability of resources. We need to listen to their stories to help them in a better way. Everybody should ensure that a cancer patient gets treatment without fail. Sometimes we should go beyond our duty call to cooperate with them.”
Dr Sachin Sekhar Biswal, a medical oncologist at a private hospital here, said, “Each cancer patient has his/her own difficulties. In this case, personalised treatment will help him/her. We cannot treat all cancer patients as one. A paediatric cancer patient is different from an adult cancer patient. A lung cancer patient is going through different emotions than a cervical cancer patient. Individualised treatment is needed to suit the unique needs of each patient.” He added that healthcare professionals need to deal with cancer patients in a compassionate way. “They need psychological counselling, pain management, guidance and social support,” Dr Biswal said.
Dr Saroj Prasad Panda, a paediatric oncologist at a city-based private medical college, said people-centred care can improve the quality of life of the patients. “Treatment should not be doctor-based; it should be patient-based,” he added.
He said the conventional standardised approach to treatment will not solve the purpose. “Every patient’s journey is different,” he added.