Chandigarh, March 24 (IANS) The Punjab government is actively considering a proposal to allow hospitals in other states to be empanelled to treat childhood cancer patients from the state under the official health insurance scheme, an official said on Tuesday.

“Recently, we got an empanelment request from a hospital in Gurugram in Haryana where five Punjab patients were shifted for treatment from AIIMS,” said Dr Gagandeep Singh Grover, Assistant Director, Non-Communicable Diseases, Department of Health and Family Welfare (DHFW), Punjab.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a state-level consultative workshop here on improving access to treatment among children with cancer, said a statement.

Taking part in the stakeholder dialogue on strengthening childhood cancer care, Dr Sushil Mahi, Director, NCD, Haryana, expressed the state government’s willingness to explore all options to help children seek cancer treatment seamlessly at centres of excellence near their homes.

Poonam Bagai, Member, ICMR Central Ethics Committee on Human Research, Cankids founder and Childhood Cancer International’s WHO South East Asia Region Representative, said, “The six states and UTs in northwest India need to work together as patients of these states keep seeking treatment in neighbouring states.”

There are examples of patients from Uttar Pradesh using their state’s financial assistance at a treatment hospital in Madhya Pradesh, but in the six northern states/UTs, such interoperability of government insurance schemes is limited.

The state governments need to work as stakeholders together and find solutions for 4,400 children with cancer in the region – from Ladakh to Himachal to Haryana – so that the government financial assistance scheme of the native state follows the patient if he opts to seek treatment in a more accessible centre in a neighbouring state, she said.

“For example, the beneficiary under Punjab Mukhyamantri Rahat Kosh should be free to get treated in Haryana, or children from Ladakh and Himachal should be able to use their government’s financial aid schemes during treatment at PGI, Chandigarh,” said Bagai.

Those who took part in the conclave included Shruti Kakkar, Professor, Department of Paediatrics, Consultant, Haematology and Stem Cell Transplant Unit, CMC, Ludhiana, and Amita Trehan, Professor, Pediatric Haematology Oncology Unit, Advanced Paediatric Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh, the statement said.

The sessions at the conference focused on Integrated Model for Comprehensive Childhood Cancer Care in NW India; Gap Financing & Universal Health Coverage; Role of Tertiary Centres in Improving Survival Outcomes and From Policy to People: Leveraging Government–NGO Partnerships for Last-Mile Impact.

Bagai highlighted that a task force would soon be set up to coordinate with state governments and other stakeholders so that the children with cancer continue to seamlessly get the best treatment with their respective state government’s funds, irrespective of the physical boundaries in the 6 States/UTs of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, J&K and Ladakh, said the statement.

–IANS

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