International Childhood Cancer Day observed

Limana Solaiman Mridha

Walking into the palliative care unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on February 15, this correspondent met Rifatul, a 4-year-old girl who was busy playing with toys she received from the hospital’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department on International Childhood Cancer Day.
Rifatul, from Narayanganj, was diagnosed with urologic cancer six months ago and underwent treatment at the DMCH. “We are here because the doctors said she will not survive and so palliative care is necessary for us,” said her mother, Jhumur.
Moving on to the Pediatric Oncology ward of DMCH, the atmosphere was quite festive as toys were distributed among the child patients, and snacks were handed out to everyone at the ward, including the children and their guardians.  
“I am glad to have these nice toys to play with,” said Arafat Hossain Wasi, a 7th grader who is receiving chemo after a successful operation to remove a tumour. Wasi’s mother, Kusum, said: “We are from Laxmipur and my son is 13, we are hopeful that we will return home soon and he can go back to school after his treatment here is complete. I am grateful to the authorities for handing out these toys to the children, it is a nice initiative.”
These toys were sponsored by the mother of a child who died of leukemia in 2014, said Dr Zohora Jameela Khan, associate professor of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology. “We host programmes like this every year to mark the day. We hold awareness rallies and seminars, too. Awareness plays a major role in cancer treatment. We keep contact with every patient we get here and we are quite thorough with this. The rate of dropout has decreased since we call them when it is time for them to receive chemo or other treatment. We face this problem a lot. When patients receive one or two cycles of chemo, their symptoms often go away and their families think they are cured, but that is not the case. Since we started to follow-up persistently, that problem has gone down a lot. We try to make them aware about the importance of completing treatment and how it is related to successfully overcoming this life-threatening disease,” Dr Khan said.
This year, the department organised a rally with doctors and nurses, who put on T-shirts and caps with cancer awareness slogans. They were joined by a young cancer survivor who overcame this deadly disease in 2011. The participants marched to the DMCH college building where a ‘National Guideline for Management of Childhood Malignancies’ was launched. At a seminar on childhood cancers, Dr Islam Shahnoor presented a paper giving an update on Wilms’ tumor management.

Photos: Writer

 

International Childhood Cancer Day observed

Limana Solaiman Mridha Walking into the palliative care unit of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on February 15, this correspondent met Rifatul, a 4-year-old girl who was busy playing with toys she received from the hospitals Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department on International Childhood Cancer Day. Rifatul, from Narayanganj, was diagnosed with urologic cancer six months ago and underwent treatment at the DMCH. We are here because the doctors said she will not survive and so palliative care is necessary for us, said her mother, Jhumur. Moving on to the Pediatric Oncology ward of DMCH, the atmosphere was quite festive as toys were distributed among the child patients, and snacks were handed out to everyone at the ward, including the children and their guardians. I am glad to have these nice toys to play with, said Arafat Hossain Wasi, a 7th grader who is receiving chemo after a successful operation to remove a tumour. Wasis mother, Kusum, said: We are from Laxmipur and my son is 13, we are hopeful that we will return home soon and he can go back to school after his treatment here is complete. I am grateful to the authorities for handing out these toys to the children, it is a nice initiative. These toys were sponsored by the mother of a child who died of leukemia in 2014, said Dr Zohora Jameela Khan, associate professor of Pediatric Hematology Oncology. We host programmes like this every year to mark the day. We hold awareness rallies and seminars, too. Awareness plays a major role in cancer treatment. We keep contact with every patient we get here and we are quite thorough with this. The rate of dropout has decreased since we call them when it is time for them to receive chemo or other treatment. We face this problem a lot. When patients receive one or two cycles of chemo, their symptoms often go away and their families think they are cured, but that is not the case. Since we started to follow-up persistently, that problem has gone down a lot. We try to make them aware about the importance of completing treatment and how it is related to successfully overcoming this life-threatening disease, Dr Khan said. This year, the department organised a rally with doctors and nurses, who put on T-shirts and caps with cancer awareness slogans. They were joined by a young cancer survivor who overcame this deadly disease in 2011. The participants marched to the DMCH college building where a National Guideline for Management of Childhood Malignancies was launched. At a seminar on childhood cancers, Dr Islam Shahnoor presented a paper giving an update on Wilms tumor management. Photos: Writer