N. Raghuraman's Column: Seek a Positive Perspective in Emerging Negative Situations

The word 'no' may sound negative to many people, but when used in the right place, it also has a positive side. For example, in his show on television, superstar Amitabh Bachchan once said that 'no work is difficult for me'. If you are involved in hospitals and the caregiving industry, especially in the nursing profession or nursing college operations, then this story ahead is very important. Negative Situation: I was reminded of Amitji's words on Tuesday when I read a research paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago this week. It was reported that cancer cases are going to increase by 21%. The world's largest cancer conference discussed how about 20 million people in the world are currently diagnosed with cancer annually. And how by 2050 this figure can reach 3.53 crore. According to a report published in The Lancet magazine, about 1 lakh people in the world will be diagnosed with cancer every day. The second part of the same report says that the world is facing a severe shortage of cancer workforce and a shortage of 100 million healthcare workers is estimated by 2050. It further explained that as the cancer progresses, patients may have to wait a long time for testing and treatment in the future. "We can't wait until 2050 to see if our projections are correct," said Mark Lawler, co-author of the report. We have to act now. Make no mistake, it's a warning and doesn't matter where you are living in the world. "The global initiative sends a clear warning," said Hedwick Hyrick, co-lead of the report. If urgent action is not taken to address the severe shortage in the workforce, we will face an unprecedented cancer crisis. We call for a country-specific strategy, including the adoption of AI digital health technologies and the use of the workforce more wisely. Now look at the positives: the numbers don't lie. And these figures show that the biggest shortage will be in nursing staff by about 6.5 crore, followed by a shortage of about 1.6 crore in diagnostic staff. The remaining 1.9 crore people will be lost in other areas of cancer care. That is, a total of 10 crore employment opportunities will be created. According to the report, investing in the cancer workforce now could avert 170 million deaths between 2030 and 2050 and provide economic benefits of about $120 trillion. If the recommendations of the report are implemented to address the possible shortage of staff, then all the 2278 functioning nursing colleges in the country should take this opportunity seriously. Of these, 2,044 are private colleges and 234 are government colleges, according to data presented in the Lok Sabha. In the last two years, the Central Government approved 113 new nursing colleges under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme. This is in addition to the 157 colleges announced in the 2023 budget. These colleges should ensure that every nursing worker who passes out annually gets an education commensurate with the needs of the future. There are many specialised areas available, from oncology nurse navigators to palliative and survivorship care specialists. Cancer treatment is now moving from one-size-fits-all chemotherapy to targeted genetic-level treatments. In this, nursing personnel play the role of genetic counseling support. The nursing workers of the future will also have to keep pace with technology. There are many high-paying opportunities available such as pediatric oncology nursing and oncology certified nurses, for which skills can be acquired through master's programs. The trick is that we have very little control over some things, but we can certainly find opportunities for ourselves. And at the same time, you can reduce someone's pain a little, if not too much.