The Pulitzer Prize winning biography on cancer ‘The Emperor of All Maladies’ has brought the malady to centre stage. The writer-oncologist Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee chronicles a disease humans have lived with and perished for more than 5,000 years. Hyderabad, referred as a medical hub, tells another sordid story: several women cancer patients continue to choose death over treatment here.
Having fallen prey to breast cancer, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among Indian women after cervical cancer, they refuse to seek medical help. The ‘painful’ decision stems from the fact that they refuse to be examined by a male specialist. Making matters worse is that there is just one woman surgical oncologist and 5-6 medical oncologists to cater to the patient load of enormous magnitude considering that one in every 50 women is falling prey to breast cancer today.
Dr Susheela Narayan, breast surgeon, Omega Cancer Hospital, who mastered a specialty viewed as a last bastion of male domination to become the lone surgical oncologist in the state, says she came across two women who allowed cancer to reach the third stage. “Despite noticing the lumps, the women kept quiet as they did not want to get themselves examined by a male doctor. When I enquired, they said they were looking for a female doctor,” says Dr Susheela, who operated on the two women later on. She says that at least five per cent of the patients end up living with the lumps in search of women doctors.
“Male surgeons are better according to Indian psyche. Attendants who accompany women patients routinely ask me ‘madam, do you operate on your own,'” says Dr Susheela. But what makes her proud and worried at the same time is the fact that she has become an exception among the fairer sex in the field of surgical oncology.
And while women patients scout for women oncologists, experts explain why there aren’t many women in this field. They say that not only does it take six years of study after MBBS but two to three additional years go towards training under an experienced surgeon. “Women doctors need to opt for surgical oncology because women patients would want to go to women doctors,” says Dr P Vijayanand Reddy, director, Apollo Cancer Hospital. Further, talking about women doctors, Dr Mohana Vamsy, chief surgical oncologist, Omega Cancer Hospital adds that a change of attitude is required.
Sharing her personal experience of overcoming odds to be successful in a field where women weren’t thought to belong, Dr Susheela says that gender discrimination during her surgical training programs was widespread and evident. But while women continue to remain a minority in the field of oncology, experts say that it is easier for women to get into the field today. Medical Council of India has increased the total seats in oncology from 16 to 50 this year. Further, there is availability of infrastructure and huge dearth of doctors. Senior most among the practising women medical oncologists in the city, professor M Lakshmi of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences says she had to take a decade long break due to marriage and children before specialising in oncology. She says it is easy for men to get into surgical specialties.
These doctors say that its a challenge as far as the market is concerned and that they continue to struggle to make a mark but they also believe that good work and goodwill earned will pay at the end of the day. Dr Susheela Narayan proudly says that she does six to ten surgeries a week, more or less the same as her male counterparts.
–Agencies