Cancer Treatment at Home: Positives for Patients and
Hospitals
Cancer killed over five lakh people across India in 2010. And
the figures are rising. Among the deaths, the mortality
was 71 per cent in the 30-69 age group. In the same age group,
cancer alone accounted for 8 per cent of the 2.5 million total male
deaths and 12 per cent of the 16 million total female deaths.
Though current figures are being compiled, the 2010 figures were
put out in a study published in Lancet. The study
found that 7,137 of the 1,22,429 deaths during 2001-2003 were
due to cancer, corresponding to 5,56,400 cancer
deaths in 2010.
All this shows that cancer cases are on the rise. Some of the
deaths could have been postponed or made less
painful and traumatic through proper care. And one way of
ensuring better care for patients afflicted by acute
cases of cancer, is health care at home. Even in end- stage
cancer cases, most patients prefer to spend the last mile
at their homes surrounded by relatives and friends.
Most end-stage cancer patients need to be kept in Intensive Care
Units (ICU) with the life-support system. For this,
patients need not be admitted to hospitals where the atmosphere
could be depressing. An ICU can now be set up
at home.
HealthCare at Home India (HCAH) has been setting up ICUs for
cancer patients and offering health care in oncology
and post-operative and palliative care at home. No treatment is
involved, but HCAH ensures that the right kind of
medical care is provided to the patients in the close confines
of a home.
Such services do not compete with hospitals or cancer centres.
Home health care just complements the work done
by doctors in hospitals or clinics.
HCAH's well trained team offers a sophisticated technology
platform and affordable medical care at home. Leveraging on the
rise in technology, an India-centric platform has been developed in
association with the UK-
based Healthcare at Home. Under this technology umbrella, all
nursing and support staff are given a hand-held
tablet. This device can store and transmit all the critical data
on patients to the treating doctors without loss of
time. This would help the treating physicians monitor the
progress of cancer patients on a real-time basis and make course
correction in the treatment if needed.
All this need not be costly. A day's stay at the ICU in a good
hospital would cost Rs 20,000-50,000. HCAH can set up
an identical facility at home at half the cost. Chemotherapy is
offered at home at the same cost as in a hospital, but
patients can make substantial saving in time and money, as they
do not have to travel long distances to reach
hospitals and stand in long queues.
Some cancer patients who have undergone surgery or chemotherapy
may need physiotherapy. Health care at
home offers patient-centric physiotherapy packages that are
affordable and can be done in the confines of ones
home.
Home services for cancer patients offer some major advantages.
They are:
Friendly as the patients are treated at home.
Cost effective as the cancer patients would find lengthy
hospital stay expensive.
Home health care allows a happier, well-monitored, flexible and
less expensive recovery option for patients.
Home health care makes patients and their families contributory
partners in the recovery process.
No service is outsourced by HealthCare At Home. Hence the
patients get high quality hospital-type care.
For hospitals:
Doctors can remotely monitor the patients.
Intervention is possible when the patients become critical.
There is no time loss.
Health care at home has emerged as an extension of a
hospital.
Using technology, doctors and hospitals can monitor vital
parameters of cancer patients.
Health Care At Home (HCAH) is Indias leading provider of
home-based home care nursing catering to a broad
spectrum of patients. HCAH follows the best practices in medical
care and maintains international protocols and
standards. HCAH has strived to provide the best health care
services at home to its patients throughout its decade-long
presence in the industry.
