SOA To Set Up Cutting-Edge Research Centre At SUM For Cancer Treatment

Bhubaneswar: The Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) and SUM Hospital, a faculty of medical sciences of SOA Deemed to be University here, is coming up with a state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic and research centre for the treatment of blood cancer.

“It is going to be a major value addition to the diagnostic and prognostic work for the patients of the state,” Head of the Department of Clinical Hematology at the hospital, Dr. Priyanka Samal said at the inauguration of the 11th annual conference of Odisha Hematology Association and second SUM Annual CME on Laboratory Hematology on Friday.

The Clinical Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation Department is one of its kind which is evolving as a referral centre for all kinds of haematological disorders, she added.

The conference was inaugurated by Odisha’s Minister for Health and Family Welfare Naba Kishore Das. He praised the work being pursued at IMS and SUM Hospital in the field of haematology while assuring of state government support for all research endeavours.

Das said the government was in the process of formulating a new health policy for the people of the state and working on a ‘Vision for 2025’. “We are planning and working on what’s to be done in this regard,” he said, adding that seven new medical colleges had come up in the state after a gap of 52 years while six more are in the pipeline.

Dr. Samal, who is also organising secretary for the conference, said the scope in the diagnostics laboratory at IMS and SUM Hospital had increased in 2018-19 with the inclusion of new procedures like platelet function assays and installing the ROTEM instrument (a global hemostasis module). The year was also remarkable as the department of Stem Cell Transplantation strove to offer Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) in blood cancer patients at a minimal charge to make it reachable to the common person.

The objective of the hospital was to extend complete, comprehensive and integrated care for Lymphoma, Leukemia, Aplastic Anemia and Thalassemia patients under a single roof without being referred to other centres for management, she said.

Dr. Samal said the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) had supported the hospital by providing factors on compassionate ground for PWH, a type of bleeding disorder. IMS and SUM Hospital, she said, was the only private hospital to get partnership and support from WFH.

“This has enabled us to manage complicated surgical cases, which could not be dreamt of earlier as the chances of uncontrollable bleeding in these patients is high. There are also communities, philanthropic and mission-aligned organizations, which along with our hospital support have helped us cure children with Hematological Cancers without any expenditure on chemotherapy,” she said adding such support had been extended to 16 paediatric cancer patients in the last six months.

Prof. Ashok Kumar Mohapatra, neurosurgeon and SOA’s Director (Medical Programmes) said there was nothing called haematology 50 years ago while BMT began in the mid-1990s.

Stating that there are 84 cancer patients per one lakh population in India against the global figure of 64, he said healthcare could be further bolstered by trying to use the available resources and equipment. “BMTs can be done with an expenditure of Rs. 1.2 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh, while corporate hospitals charge Rs. 15 to 20 lakh for the procedure,” he said.