Pink Bus launched to combat cancer

• It focuses on three main cancers in females—breast, cervix and oral
• The bus is equipped with advanced screening facilities
• In a phased manner, bus will cover entire Rayalaseema and diagnose cancer in its early stages

Tirupati: To combat the three main cancers—breast, cervix and oral—affecting women, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) embarked with the novel concept of Pink Bus.

The Director cum Vice Chancellor of SVIMS Dr TS Ravikumar has launched the bus which will have the features of mobile mammography, PAP smear, oral examination, breast ultrasound scanning facilities.

The initiative will help detect the cancer in its early stages there by reducing the cancer burden in the community.

This was one of the prestigious concepts for ‘Women’s cancer initiative for Rayalaseema to offer bundled screening and prevention of the disease in the region.

In the long run, the bus will also serve screening and prevention of other non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking cessation, kidney diseases and heart stroke said the Director Dr TS Ravikumar.

Pink Bus will operate in the triple aim framework—better care for the individual, better health of the population and at affordable sustainable cost—to improve access for women to quality health care linking hub to hut.

The institute has set out its goal very clear of improving the outcomes of three common cancers in women using prevention, screening, early diagnosis, multidisciplinary care and palliative care approaches.

As suggested by the name itself, the ‘Pink Bus’ is having a pink chassis with advanced screening facilities inside. The bus is also having a generator facility to make screenings without any hitch.

The state-of-the-art vehicle will go to villages and even remote areas to screen the women with special focus on those at below poverty line with free of cost.

According to an estimate, about 17 lakh people may be prone to cancer by 2020 and eight lakh of them may have to lose their lives. Among the new cancer patients in the world, 23 per cent were coming from India and 25 per cent of them were dying.

The Pink Bus initiative was aimed at reaching about 15 million population in Rayalaseema region in phased manner. To start with, they will extend the services at Mangalam PHC which serves as its rural health centre and will be expanded to Tirupati Urban area and then to the district.

“We hope to use this Pink Bus concept for strengthening of health system in the region of Rayalaseema”, Dr Ravikumar averred.

The doctors and other staff of SVIMS will go with the bus for the basic intervention. “We organise camps in the villages and screen the women there to find out the symptoms of cancer in its early stages.

This will reduce the death burden as most of the cases were now being detected in its stage III or IV,” observed the Head of the Surgical Oncology Department of SVIMS Dr H Narendra.

The doctors review each case at SVIMS and give treatment for those required. An awareness video on cancers will also be screened at every camp from the Pink Bus.

The programme has been carried out in cooperation and collaboration with other government health programmes through DM&HO, NGOs such as Rotary Club and industrial partners.

The main donor was Lalit Shah of Mumbai who donated Rs 1 crore and other funds were provided from Sri Balaji Arogya Varaprasidini Scheme and other channels to cover the total cost of Rs 2.19 crore of the project.

The women can book their appointments by calling 9490800108 or 08772220666.