World Cancer Day Special | What ‘United by Unique’ Means for Cancer Care in Indian Hospitals
By Arunima Rajan
In an interview with Healthcare Executive, Dr. Deepak Jha, Chief-Breast Surgery and Senior Consultant, Surgical Oncology, Artemis Hospitals explains how precision oncology, multidisciplinary care and patient realities are reshaping cancer treatment in India.
How does Artemis Hospital's multidisciplinary tumour board approach ensure that each patient receives a personalised treatment plan that goes beyond a one-size-fits-all model? Can you share an example of how individual patient factors such as genetic profile, comorbidities, or life circumstances shaped a treatment decision?
A multidisciplinary tumor board is the backbone of any modern Cancer center. A tumor board ensures all the oncologists present the latest and best options available for every individual patient, hence ensuring the best available care. It also removes any individual bias and opens up the options of trials if any available after multiple lines of treatment. An interesting scenario was a young lady diagnosed with breast cancer. In normal circumstances, she would have underwent surgery, chemotherapy, radiation as well as hormone therapy. However in her case, she underwent a special type of surgery called Nicole Saving mastectomy with sentinel node biopsy where we save the breast skin and Nipple complex and replace the breast fat with tummy fat. This surgery preserved the body shape and breast as before surgery. After surgery, we used special test to assess benefit of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The tests classified her as low risk and hence instead of long treatment over 8-9 months which would have included all kinds of treatment, she simply underwent surgery followed by hormone therapy tablets. A complex lengthy treatment was converted into a short one with minimal therapy, little complications and fast return to normal life and activity.
World Cancer Day 2026's theme is "United by Unique," emphasising people at the centre of care. How does Artemis Hospital translate this philosophy into practical patient experiences, from diagnosis through survivorship?
Artemis always believed in patient first approach. Every patient is unique, the tumor has its own unique molecular identity which is deciphered and treatment individualised as per the molecular and genetic signatures. At the same time, every patient has her own set of personal circumstances which are also factored in to ensure proper compliance with treatment planned.
Artemis offers precision oncology services with genetic profiling. How does this approach help identify the most effective targeted therapies for individual cancers, and what percentage of your patient cohort benefits from these advanced diagnostics?
Precision oncology is the cornerstone of modern oncology treatment. All patients at Artemis benefit from precision oncology approach by profiling the molecular and genetic signatures of tumor, using NGS, liquid biopsy and other modalities as applicable to formulate a best plan with maximum chances of favourable response. A tumor board is also used to interpret and discuss these complex molecular and genetic data to formulate the treatment plan.
You have medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology under one roof. How does this integration improve outcomes, reduce treatment delays, and enhance the patient experience compared to fragmented care models?
Having Surgical, medical and radiation oncology under one roof is just the beginning. The oncology department ensures that even nuclear medicine, pathology and all ancillary departments are right next to each other. This provides ease of flow for the patient who don’t have to run around to different corners of hospital to meet various specialists. This approach also ensures all the relevant information and possible stumbling blocks are easily transferred between the relevant departments. All information including biopsies, treatment history, various changes in imaging studies over time are available in a lucid and easily available manner, which ensures quality and continuation of care. A fragmented approach in oncology is likely to yield a poorer result as compared to such a unified approach.
Can you describe the comprehensive supportive care services Artemis provides including nutritional guidance, psychological counselling, pain management, and palliative care? How do these services address the unique emotional and social needs of cancer patients and families?
The complex cancer problem requires an all-round approach. Just focusing on treatment is incomplete and leads to nutritional, physical psychological sequelae significantly decreasing post therapy outcome. Artemis oncology realised this early and ensure a diet counselling for our indoor patients. A robust physiotherapy team ensures minimal post surgery physical side effects and our home care program ensure continuity of the same high end care even when the patient is discharged from hospitals. We have highly experienced counsellors for patient as well as family manners to help the over come the initial shock of diagnosis as well as adjusting to the treatment side effects. Our pain and palliative care unit operates in close association with their oncology colleagues to ensure adequate pain relief. Sometimes where despite our best efforts the disease trumps all our interventions, our palliative care department along with home care ensures a comfortable end of life for the patient and our counsellors help with grief counselling.
Given the significant cost burden of advanced cancer treatment, what initiatives is Artemis taking to ensure equitable access to world-class oncology care for patients from diverse economic backgrounds in India?
Financial toxicity is a real concern in oncology right now. A prolonged treatment with multiple modalities of treatment definitely puts a pressure on the family and it becomes important for us to ensure physical as well as financial health for the patient. The hospital management helps with discounts and other offers for the deserving candidates. The artemis foundation has also sponsored treatment of needy patients from time to time. The physicians also actively guide patients for enrol enemy’s in Patient Assistance Programme to provide help. There are many trials running in the hospital which are a means of providing latest pharmaceutical drug’s at no cost to the patient.
What new treatment modalities or clinical trials is Artemis currently offering such as immunotherapy, mRNA vaccine trials, or AI-assisted diagnostics, and how are these innovations reshaping cancer outcomes?
Artemis is the forefront of onco-logical advancement in the country. We have the latest equipment’s for robotic surgeries, Spect CT, cyber knife to provide the best in world treatment. We are routinely changing our treatment protocols to reflect the world standard of care e.g. double blockade in Her2 positive Tumors, use of immunotherapy initially in metastatic and now even in some early stage and first line therapy, use of NGS studies, genetic analysis and molecular studies to be at the forefront of oncology care. All of these modalities have significantly improved cure rates and have also extended survival in advanced or metastatic disease.
Can you share insights into how Artemis Hospital tracks long-term survivor outcomes and quality of life post-treatment? What does meaningful recovery look like from your team's perspective?
All patients post treatment are on follow ups on regular intervals. These are initially at 3 months and are slowly increased over time. Our department maintains a strong database and along with a robust HIS system ensures updated information. The follow up also includes questionaires pertains to quality of life indicators. As our survival rates are getting better, it’s simply not enough just to cure the disease. It’s important to reduce complications and ensure fast recovery of patient from any sequelae. The treatment is not over till the patient is fully rehabilitated and settle into his/her routine day to day activities with minimal disruption or discomfort.
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