Specialist Dr Manoj Tayal says cancer is a lifestyle disease but 90-95 per cent of it can be cured in the early stages of detection.
Speaking at the Medivisor Musical Evening in Suva on Saturday, the Director and Clinical Administrator (Radiation Oncology) from the Max Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi highlighted that cancer treatment has advanced with very limited side effects.
“If cancer is detected in the first stage or the second stage, 80- 85 per cent of patients are cured of it. In the third or fourth stage, there are certain tumours which get cured as well.”
“Treatment is available and if you can diagnose cancer early, you can cure almost 90 to 95% of cancers. We have to understand that we should not be scared of this disease. We should be ready to take its treatment, although the treatment may be quite intensive in regards to logistics and cost, it’s worth it as it’s going to give you a new life.”
“Patients undergo treatments whether it is radiation, surgery or chemotherapy, but over the last 2025 years, the treatment costs and duration have gone down.”
“Cancer does not have one single symptom through which we can say that the symptom you have is cancer because cancer itself is a collection of many diseases. Cancer is just an abnormal growth of our normal cells which have gone wrong and they just keep on dividing. Later it becomes a tumour and spreads through the blood to other parts of the body.”
Dr Tayal also encouraged Fijians to practice a healthy lifestyle and get their cancer check-up done to avoid any last minute medical issues.
“Cancer is quite curable and we should always try to get it treated. I have seen the statistics in the Pacific Islands, and I feel people need to get more educated on the causes of cancer.”
“Cancer is a lifestyle disease and it’s quite preventable. We should take care that we are not getting too much into smoking, drinking instead maintains a very healthy lifestyle and we go for regular walks and exercise.”
