Daycare chemotherapy centres at 16 Karnataka dist hospitals from today

Bengaluru: The government will launch the District Day Care Chemotherapy Centres (DCCC) in the state to decentralise cancer care and reduce out of pocket expenditure for patients.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the hub-and-spoke model programme in Mysuru on Friday, operationalising the DCCCs at 16 district hospitals, under the Health Department, at once.  

This project was first announced in the state budget of 2024-25, where the chief minister said the DCCCs would be set up in each district at a total cost of Rs 20 crore.

The Health Department data shows that Karnataka reports approximately 70,000 new cancer cases annually. Cancers of the Breast (18%), Cervical (14%), Oral (12%), Lung (8%), and Colorectal (6%) are the highest in the state, and the incidence of oral cancer (12 cases per 1 lakh people) is higher than the national average. 

At least 60 per cent of the patients have to travel over 100 km to access treatment in government facilities in Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mysuru and Kalaburagi, and there is a high dropout rate of 30% due to recurring high costs and logistics, according to the department.

“Chemotherapy, radiation treatment are not easy (for patients). They might have to travel to Bengaluru, Mysuru or Kalaburagi for this. For the poor, Kidwai is the only option,” said Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao. This pushes up costs for patients travelling from afar, which also increases expenditure.

The DCCCs will aim to reduce urban-rural disparity by decentralising care, reduce travel and hospitalisation costs, and ensure continuity of treatment, said the minister. This system would also help in early detection and decongest hub hospitals that see a high volume of cancer patients.  

“Cancer treatment is part of tertiary care; we don’t offer that in hospitals under the Health Department...the need for the Daycare Chemotherapy Centres came up last year. However, it was not easy to implement; we don’t have (enough) oncologists...so, we decided to adopt a hub-and-spoke model,” he said.

Tertiary care hospitals will be hubs attached to district hospitals that will be spokes. Hubs will offer complex treatment, conduct PET-CT scans and other advanced screenings and treatments, referral, telemedicine, training and quality assurance.

The DCCCs, which are spokes, will focus on patient care, palliative care, counselling and data reporting. This would require a visiting medical oncologist, two nurses trained in chemotherapy administration, a physician, pharmacist, and counsellor.

In Dakshina Kannada, a proposal to have the DCCCs in taluk hospitals has also been mooted in two taluks because there are several medical colleges, the decision for which will be taken shortly, the minister said.