Indonesia overwhelmed with cancer patients
JAKARTA (JP): Health authorities and hospitals are fighting a losing battle to keep pace with the rapidly increasing number of cancer patients, a leading oncologist laments.
Dr. Didid Tjindarbumi told a seminar on Saturday that cancer affects about 100 out of 100,000 Indonesians annually, and that only a small number of them receive medical treatment.
"It's overwhelming," he said. "An estimated 180,000 new cancer sufferers were found this year alone, while not all of those already affected from previous years have been handled well."
Due to various reasons, including ignorance and poverty, only some 50 percent of all people affected by cancer receive medical attention. Some 40 percent of those who finally see doctors and are treated at hospitals cannot be saved because their illnesses have reached advanced stages.
In 1989, cancer was the sixth leading cause of death here. It is expected that its occurrence will grow along with increases in life expectancy, changes in lifestyle, and changes in patterns of illness here, from infections to degenerative diseases.
A study of 17 hospitals and 14 pathologic installations here revealed that cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer, followed by breast, lymphoid and skin cancers.
The incidence of cancer of the cervix accounts for 73.2 percent of all female cancer patients, followed by 10.5 percent with ovarian cancer.
Held by the Dharmais Cancer Hospital and the Panasea health magazine, the seminar was attended mostly by women who flinched when Tjindarbumi showed slides of breast cancer patients, and later rained the doctor with anxious questions.
Sexual promiscuity
Another speaker at the seminar was gynecologist Dr. Boyke Dian Nugraha who explained that sexual promiscuity greatly increases the risk of cervical cancer.
He quoted studies which showed that the incidence of cancer in the cervix and uterus is twice as high in women with more than one sexual partner. He advocated "healthy sexual behavior" as well as a healthy diet, refraining from smoking and reducing stress, as ways to prevent cancer.
Tjindarbumi said there is a more than 30 percent chance that cancer can be prevented. About one third of all types of cancer are curable, while another third are incurable, but "the patients' quality of life can be improved," he said.
He went on to explain that the only effective approach to handling cancer, particularly breast cancer, is by identifying people included in "high risk group" and educating them.
Among those in the high risk group are unmarried women over 30 years of age with a family history of breast cancer, or those who give birth when they are above 35 years of age, as well as those who do not breast-feed, and obese women.
"The older women are, the higher their risk of contracting cancer," he said.
Tjindarbumi added that oral contraceptives, which usually consist of a combination of estrogen and progesterone hormones, do not increase the risk of cancer, but should not be given to women between 20 to 30 years of age. (swe)