Straight Answers

viji venkatesh, ex-executive director, cancer patients aid association (cpaa),on her services in cancer care you recently resigned from cpaa after almost 15 years of service. what were your experiences and was there any particular reason for quitting? my 15 years with cpaa have been very fulfilling. during these years, i set up some interesting cancer patient care, education and detection programmes and have seen cpaa grow to an international level.but, i felt it was time to make way for others and hence, decided to resign. of course, i will be involved with cancer care. in fact, i'm a member of the managing committee of the geneva-based international union against cancer. what does cancer care entail?cancer care at cpaa means total management of cancer. it includes screening, educating, offering guidance, counselling and rehabilitating cancer patients. these help in building the patient's confidence. in india, why are the number of cancer hospitals far less than what is required? no doubt we have few hospitals in india. but i wouldn't term it government apathy because in india, other diseases like malaria, tuberculosis or areas like family planning need priority. what about the hospitals in mumbai which often are overloaded with patients from outside? yes, the hospitals are overloaded because patients come from outside. but, compared with other cities, facilities in mumbai are really good. can you comment on the stigma attached to the disease? unfortunately, that still exists. not just the lower socio-economic strata, but even among some of the educated class, it exists. they hesitate to admit that somebody in their family has cancer. roshni olivera roshni.olivera@indiatimes.com