64 April 2016 www.bahrainthismonth.com interview George Middleton and Dr VP Gangadharan Dr Gangadharan is based in India, where he works at Lakeshore Hospital Ernakulam and Karithas Hospital, Kottayam and is a member of the Cancer Society Ernakulam. He is also an advisory member of the Kingdom’s own CCG, which is affiliated with Bahrain Cancer Society. The group organised a medical event, seminar and checkup at Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam, where the doctor worked from morning to night examining cancer patients and offering hope. Speaking about the founding of his own group, he says: “We wanted to provide a platform where people could find out where to go to seek treatment, what the next steps are and how to go about it. It was information many people were lacking and we gave them direction. “In the ‘90s, many patients came to us for diagnosis and early treatment. Eventually, our goals grew into trying to identify patients and to educate the public. No longer was it just about supporting cancer treatment, we had moved on to encompass preventative measures and early diagnostics.” He has had an ongoing involvement with the Bahrain Cancer Care Group, which he says is doing a very good job and he is keen to point out that developments in treatment are offering a brighter future for cancer sufferers. He says: “I think there has been a lot of progress and there are many new technologies. I find very promising something called the treatment of targeting immunity checkpoints; somehow tackling the cell point which allows a cell to escape effective treatment. We are trying with new medicines to counteract this and it is opening a whole new area. I believe it will be the person who tracks this that will end THE CURES OF THE FUTURE up being the oncologist in the future and no longer the radiologists or the surgical oncologists. It will be personalised medicine. “The answer will lie in identifying how the molecular mechanisms happen and tackling basic defects. To simplify the equation, I always say that the environment and genes equals cancer. The environment conducts our habits and lifestyle which leaves the final impact of the genes, and using immunology therapy to tackle this may be the final answer.” However, he expects revolutionary treatments to be some way in the future. “I believe that while it might not happen in my lifetime, then definitely in my son’s we will reach the light at the end of the tunnel. This field is everdeveloping; what I learnt 25 years ago is now obsolete,” he explains. Dismissing frequent online claims of miracle, unconventional cures for the disease, he says: “My opinion on homeopathy or alternative GEORGE MIDDLETON Renowned oncologist Dr VP Gangadharan was recently in Bahrain for an event organised by the island’s Cancer Care Group (CCG). BTM caught up with him to hear his vision for battling the disease in the future. medicine is that, while many of our medicines have bases in plant parts and roots, alternative medicine lacks something, and that is the statistics to back it up. One cannot say that the result of so and so is this. The trials of classical medicine need to be done on alternative medicine and all the data needs to be evolved and scientifically tested; only then will it develop and not be bound for extinction. “Where there is a known treatment in a hospital, I always say go for it for things like cancer, where time is precious and wasting a few months on alternative medicine before returning to the classical treatment might mean it is already too late and that the disease has advanced to a stage where it is beyond cure. “As to things on the net that claim to be cures for cancer, while vegetables and other lifestyle changes are all well and good as preventative measures, they are not going to cure somebody who already has cancer.”
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