American Oncology Institute (AOI), South Asia’s leading chain of cancer hospitals, has unveiled an exclusive campaign called Nyla, a movement for early detection and prevention of Cancers in Women, on the occasion of World Cancer Day across 8 states in India. Chief Guest Dr Namrata Singh, a physiotherapist and avid biker, who is undertaking an all India Bike ride to sensitise women about cancers; Dr Babaiah, Medical Director, American Oncology Institute (AOI); Dr Vijay Vemuri, Regional Director – South & COO; Dr Sudha Sinha, Sr. Medical Oncologist, AOI and Dr M Ravikiran, Facility Director – Operations, American Oncology Institute; formally launched NYLA, on Tuesday at American Oncology Institute, Hyderabad.
In India, around 5.8 lakh new cases of cancers were diagnosed in women in 2018. Breast cancer s for 25-32% of all female cancers. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and ed for 16.5% of newly diagnosed cancer cases in women in the year 2018. Ovarian Cancer is the third leading cancer and ed for about 6.2% of all cancers among women in our country. Breast (27.7%) Cervix Uteri (16.5%) Ovary (6.2%) and Colorectum (3.4%) cancers together for more than half of all cancers in women. Many of these cancers can be detected early and are highly curable in early stages. Therefore, it is important to step up and educate our community about cancers in women.
Negligence and ignorance are causing a growing number of women to lose the battle to cancer. Early detection can help more women win the battle against cancer. American Oncology Institute (AOI) is proud to announce the launch of NYLA – a movement for early detection and prevention of cancers in women namely Breast Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Uterine Cancer and Colorectal Cancer.
The word ‘NYLA’ is of Arabic origin and means a ‘winner’.
Dr Namrata Singh speaking on the occasion said, being from the medical profession I keep meeting several women with breast or cervix cancers, I also knew that the reason for this being lack of awareness about breast and cervix cancer. The incidence of these cancers has only been rising and India alone s for a startling 25% of the cases, worldwide. I always wanted to take on the responsibility and do my bit in raising awareness among women about these dreaded cancers. So I set out on a pan India awareness campaign on a motorbike to meet women wherever possible, be it a college, women’s association, jails, hospitals. It’s been 150 days since I set out and have already covered approximately 18200 kms, 14 states, 6 union territories and in the process addressed around 120 seminars. I had several difficult and delightful moments during the trip, many were due to language barrier and inability to communicate with elderly. It’s my determination to accomplish my goal that made me to overcome any difficulty and also to get across my message to them. I could convey to them the message of cancer being preventable and with early detection and regular screening, we could keep these cancers at bay. I had my set of problems during the ride be it men in rural areas not being comfortable with a women riding a bike, resorting to teasing. In Kashmir, I was accosted by some miscreants protesting my carrying an Indian flag on the bike, by pelting stones, they tore the flag and broke the flag post on my bike. But the courage I gathered and the sheer determination got me to go about with my mission of educating women and the next day I went to the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, with a new Indian flag and made an impressive circle in the centre of the town. In the Himalayas too, I waded through heavy snow, chill weather and difficult road to drive. Also went to the highest motorable , the Khardung La . You would be surprised to know that I learnt bike riding from July 11th, 2019, and began this pan India ride on September 1st, 2019, just 5 months ago. It was a long cherished dream of mine to go pan India on a bike and my experiences of meeting women afflicted of cancers in my profession gave me a cause to spread message about.
Dr. Jagprag Singh Gujral, Group CEO-South Asia expressed, “There is a rising incidence of cancers in India. Breast, cervical, ovarian, uterine and colorectal cancer together for more than 50% of cancers in women. AOI believes that every woman is a fighter, and most will emerge victorious in such difficult times if they have access to knowledge, guidance and . Cancer awareness and early detection programs are key to this theme. NYLA will be an all- encoming resource for women to understand, diagnose and treat cancer the right way. NYLA will extend all the benefits of AOI’s rich pedigree in precision cancer care -clinical expertise, recent advances in technology and committed care- to equip, and lead them in this fight against cancer.”
Dr Babaiah said, when we started this centre a decade, there were several Cancer hospitals already in the city, but the purpose of starting this centre was something different, we had a vision of high quality care with the nursing care much superior to what was prevalent, as we were of a firm opinion that these are the two things which were critical to cancer care. In addition we have the tried and tested International protocols which make a critical difference to the treatment in cancer care. We have an International tumor board, where we have international specialists give opinion from their enormous experience. All these make this centre standout.
Dr Sudha Sinha, Sr. Medical Oncologist, AOI, India has the dubious distinction of more women being afflicted of cancer than men and also we have the highest mortality rate from breast and cervical cancers and the second highest number from ovarian cancer, in the world. So women are really struggling due to lack of diagnosis, screening, prevention and treatment. One wonders why it is different from the rest of the world. There are several factors which make the difference, we don’t seek care easily resulting in late detection. We, especially women are also scared of the family and societal consequences of detection of the disease, the trauma the near and dear have to endure on our behalf and therefore we women tend to ignore the problem. This leads to cancer being diagnosed in stage 3 or 4. All this because of the stigma attached to cancer in our country and we need to work towards erasing that stigma. As part of this goal of removing the stigma of cancer is the launch of NYLA by American Oncology Institute, a pan India initiative, which brings cancer in the centre stage of the dialogue between women, where they have to embrace the truth and discuss openly, no more in hush, hush voice. It is time we acknowledge it, overcome it, and proactively do something about it. So NYLA is a program to improve cancer awareness, program for early detection and screening of cancer, educating everyone, a program where we as women empower ourselves and conquer this by taking control of our lifestyles, that is what NYLA all about, NYLA is just a beginning of that conversation. We will be having 2020 volunteers by the end of 2020, who will be talking in their communities about cancer and ensure proactive action against cancer.
Under Nyla AOI will run a training program where any woman who is highly determined, understanding, ready to share knowledge with other women and willing to contribute tosociety can be a Nyla volunteer.
The training module will help Nyla Volunteers to help, raise awareness and educate other women about prevention and screening of cancers, talk to them about how they could reduce the risk of getting the most common cancers, have effective and ive conversations about women’s health in general and encourage them to take positive steps towards a healthy and active life.
