A new study shows hundreds of children with cancer travel over two hours to reach treatment centres. Shivam Kumar, 15, travels 1000 km from Patna to Delhi for care. Poonam Bagai said, “We must go beyond helping families travel long distances for treatment to building stronger childhood cancer care networks.”
NEW DELHI: Shivam Kumar, 15, has to travel over 1000 km twice a month, from Patna to Delhi’s AIIMS, after it was confirmed that his cancer has relapsed in 2024. In 2020, Kumar was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a group of blood cancers that develop in the lymphatic system, and was treated at AIIMS, Patna. But when he suffered a relapse four years later, he was referred to AIIMS, Delhi, where he was diagnosed with Nodular Lymphocyte-Predominant Hodgkin Lymphoma (NLPHL), a rare, slow-growing type of blood cancer.
The boy, who had to drop out after Class 3 due to his illness, is now on his way to recovery and will be going back home soon. But he will have to commute to and fro from his hometown as he has recently undergone a bone marrow transplant and will have to come to Delhi for his mandatory three-monthly routine check-ups.
Shivam is not alone. Hundreds of children with cancer have to travel long distances, or on average over two hours, to reach a paediatric cancer centre, said a first-of-its-kind study recently published in the UK-based Journal of Cancer Policy.
The study, conducted by cancer specialists including experts from AIIMS, Delhi, has said uneven geographic distribution of childhood cancer centres forces families to travel long distances.
Kumar’s mother Geeta Devi, 45, told this newspaper that the burden of travelling had added to their woes. “Travelling from Patna to Delhi twice a month is challenging,” said Devi whose husband earns `10,000 per month.
The family first had to live in a night shelter near AIIMS. It was a stroke of luck that they connected with CanKids KidsCan, a national society for change for childhood cancer. They stayed in one of their centres, receiving financial, psychological and nutritious food support. Shivam, who can now celebrate Diwali with his family, said, “I just want to go back to school again.”
Poonam Bagai, Founder and Chairman, CanKids KidsCan, said, “We must go beyond helping families travel long distances for treatment to building stronger childhood cancer care networks that bring quality care closer to home. And we must not forget the children who never reach a cancer centre at all. Every child deserves timely access to quality care, financial protection and a fair chance of survival.”
Manraj Singh Sra, the study’s lead author, said they found that most families face long journeys to reach specialised paediatric cancer centres. “The average travel time was about two hours and 40 minutes each way, and 60% travelled more than two hours,” Sra said.