KOLGOTRG Study Shows that 1,100 Women Screened For Cervical Cancer At Darjeeling Tea Garden Workplaces

News Desk, News Nation 360 : January is observed as Cervical Cancer Awareness Month to bring attention to a condition that annually takes the lives of 70,000 Indian women, who are otherwise preventable cases. The PRECERCA project has successfully screened close to 1,100 women in the Darjeeling tea gardens with the most modern Gene Xpert technology as a result of a collaboration between KOLGOTRG, Suraksha Clinic and Diagnostics and the Government of West Bengal. The data revealed that ten per cent of these women were positive for high-risk HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer. The initiative offers free treatment at the workplace so that these women are not forced to suffer loss of income or experience logistical difficulties. The absence of access to screening is a major problem in rural areas where daily wage earners do not have the time or means to travel to distant hospitals. Socioeconomic factors and cultural taboos about reproductive health make it even more difficult to have regular screenings and follow-ups. The North Bengal tea gardens have close to 100,000 women workers who are the sole earning members of their families and are also extremely susceptible to their working conditions. PRECERCA adopts a same-day screen and treat strategy to avoid the need for multiple visits to healthcare facilities and to enhance program acceptability. This strategy is critical because cervical cancer requires a decade to develop, and early intervention can save the lives of women in their most productive age group. Although cancer care can cost up to two lakh rupees, the cost of preventive screening is much lower and more effective. This project also aims to train local nurses to develop a sustainable healthcare workforce in areas where doctors are not readily available. Apart from cervical health, Suraksha Clinic and Diagnostics and KOLGOTRG have launched the ROCK platform to spread awareness about ovarian cancer and provide better access to clinical trials. Women between the ages of thirty and sixty are encouraged to take advantage of these life-saving screenings to fill the worldwide gap in cancer care. By bringing point-of-care testing to remote areas, this long-term plan seeks to achieve the WHO elimination goals and safeguard the health of at-risk workers in the Himalayan foothills.

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