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Monday, 18 April 2016

Revisiting 'The Other Face of Cancer'

Tumours of Thyroid no more cancers!!!
Abhijit Mukherjee
Times of India (Mumbai 16/04/2016) carried a report of NYT which says “Docs reclassify a thyroid tumour, say it isn't cancer”. The report refers to a study which got published in JAMA on 14/4/2016 and had its conclusion that “Thyroid tumors currently diagnosed as noninvasive EFVPTC [encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma] have a very low risk of adverse outcome and should be termed NIFTP [noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary like Nuclear features]. This reclassification will affect a large population of patients worldwide and result in a significant reduction in psychological and clinical consequences associated with the diagnosis of cancer”. The report of NYT and TOI also says “Patients Will Be Spared Surgery, Needless Treatment”.
Way back in 1973 Dr. Manu Kothari and Dr. Lopa Mehta in their book “The Nature of Cancer” while discussing on the various facets of cancer in general and thyroid cancer in particular pointed out the following:
1.Malignancy indicates "the tendency to go from bad to worse," or to cause death. Benignancy or malignancy should be strictly determined by what the lesion does to the patient rather than what it looks under the microscope, for these two qualities do not always correspond to each other.
2.“In a series of 1,000 necropsies, about 50 Per cent of the thyroids showed one or more nodules of which 21 per cent showed histological signs, of cancer. This is enormously higher than the standard death rate of 6 per million Per annum' from carcinoma thyroid”.[Reference from Nobel Laureate Sir Macfarlane Burnet]
3.Malignancy of parathyroid is rare; aII hyperplastic and/or adenomatous parathyroids are constituted by Jekyllian, benign cells which however, irresponsive to physiologic feedback mechanisms, keep on functioning autonomously thus almost begging for the designation of malignancy. Stanbury comments in a similar vein on thyroid cancers: "Since thyroid carcinomas may closely resemble normal thyroid tissue or benign adenomas, the pathologic diagnosis is often difficult and at times uncertain."
[Note: Time and again it has been coming to the fore the correctness of the massive work on cancer of Dr. Kothari and Dr. Mehta. So it is high time that practicing medicos seriously refer to their work and spare the brunt of “needless treatment” and anxiety to patients and their families.  In "The Other Face of Cancer" they wrote "It may seem unbelievable but it is India that is telling the world what cancer is, and what can be done about it, and what cannot be and should not be. Indeed Dr. Kothari and Dr. Mehta were much ahead of their time.]
on behalf of www.cancerfundamentaltruth.com

Thursday, 14 April 2016

An Appeal

Condemn the Arrest of Dr Saibal Jana



We are inviting friends to a meeting at the Senate Hall, Kolkata University on 8th May 2016 between 10am to 5pm to deliberate on the deplorable arrest and jail custody of Dr Saibal Jana, a senior health activist and the chief physician of the Sahid Hospital, Dalli-Rajhara, Chhattisgarh. Dr Jana was arrested on 17th March in connection with a 24-year old flimsy case and was hand-cuffed in contravention of all civilized norms. Dr Jana has been granted an interim bail but the case is pending before the Court of Law.

You will know that the Sahid Hospital was established in 1982-83 by the donation and physical labour of mine workers under the leadership of late Shankar Guha Neogi, the founder of Chhattisgarh Mine Shramik Sangh (CMSS); Dr Jana has been working at the hospital since its inception. This premier health institution has been relentlessly engaged in improving the health conditions of predominantly tribal people in and around Dalli-Rajhara and has successfully undertaken preventive and promotive health activities like malaria prevention, anti-alcoholism (NASA BANDI) and so on while the 100-bed hospital is providing diagnostic and therapeutic services to patients from all social and economic background in and around 100 km radius.
  
Against the backdrop of egregious growth of profit-driven, ‘hi-tech’, city-centric medicare institutions, Dr Saibal Jana and Sahid Hospital epitomize pro-people, rational health care initiative. We view this incidence of arrest as a serious threat to all such people-centric health care initiative and as an obnoxious encroachment into the democratic space for searching alternatives.    

We have felt that sincere and creative persuasion of pro-people health care initiatives can be a fitting reply to such atrocities and are inviting friends to this day-long round-table deliberation to share their views and experiences regarding this. We propose to raise our voice of PROTEST against deplorable arrest and hand-cuffing of Dr Saibal Jana, to stand in SOLIDARITY with Sahid Hospital and demand immediate STOP to all forms of harassment on such pro-people health initiatives across India.   

In Solidarity:
Dr Dipankar Sengupta (colleague of Dr Saibal Jana at Saheed Hospital).
Dr Asish Kumar Kundu (former colleague of Dr Saibal Jana at Saheed Hospital).
Dr Smarajit Jana (class fellow of Dr Saibal Jana and working in the field of HIV/AIDS and related areas).
Dr Kunal Datta (class fellow of Dr Saibal Jana and working at Sramajibi Hospital, Belur).
Phanigopal Bhattacharya (Sramajibi Hospital, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Joya Mitra (Eminent writer, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Subhendu Dasgupta (Eminent economist, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Naba Datta (Nagarik Mancha, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Prasanta Chattopadhyay (Editor, ‘Kaloddhvani’, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Sanjoy Ganguli (Jana Sanskriti, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).
Debasish Bhattacharya (Belur Sramajibi Swasthya Prakalpo Samity, well wisher of Saheed Hospital).