Cost Analysis of Blood Cancer Treatment in India

Cancer is one of the leading causes of unnatural death in the world, and the fourth most common type of cancer is blood cancer. Blood cancer treatment is still one of the few medical procedures that high a high chance of failure or relapse.

Three variants of deadly blood cancer types have been recognised. These are listed below:

Leukaemia

Leukaemia is a type of cancer that affects white blood cells. Cells affected by Leukemia keep growing unchecked and harm the surrounding healthy blood cells in a patient’s body.

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a type of cancer that affects the immune system. It affects the lymph tissues, which throughout the entire body. This causes the immune system to grow weak and ultimately fail.

Multiple Myeloma

The third type of blood cancer is Myeloma. This only affects a specific type of white blood cell, called plasma cells.

When multiple cases of myeloma are detected within a patient’s body, it is known as multiple myeloma.

Treatment

Blood Cancer Treatment procedures involve a large amount of risk. They take quite a heavy toll on the body, and many times the patient may find difficult to lead a normal life afterwards.

Having said that, it should be noted that blood cancer treatments in India have had a much better success rate in recent times. This raises hope for many people, who suffer from cancer themselves or have a loved one trapped in such a dire situation.

The only clincher it seems is the cost involved with these medical procedures.

Here are some of the popular treatments for blood cancer in India:

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is perhaps the best-known cancer treatment around the world. This kind of treatment involves specifically targeting cancerous cells via chemicals. Such chemicals, when they come in contact with the infected cells, kill them. There are some pretty serious side-effects of chemotherapy too.

An entire chemotherapy session would cost around INR 1,00,000 or $1400.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy works the same as chemotherapy, but instead of using chemicals to target cancerous cells, this procedure uses high-intensity radiation focused on the affected part. This procedure is usually performed alongside chemotherapy, for best results.

The cost of radiation therapy is quite high, costing around INR 6,50,000 which roughly translates to about $9200.

Bone marrow transplant

Apart from the two above mentioned options, there is another treatment method for blood cancer, called Bone Marrow Transplant. In this, a surgeon removes the damaged bone marrow that is producing cancerous cells and replaces it with healthy bone marrow of a donor. The donor could be a compatible person, or it could be the patient’s own healthy bone marrow.

The cost of Bone marrow transplantation in India is extremely high, about INR 35,00,000 or 50,000 USD.

If you were to add these costs, then the entire sum would come out to be in excess of 41 Lakh Rupees ($70000).

While these prices might seem like an overkill, they are actually much more affordable than international medical procedures. Blood Cancer Hospitals in India charge an average of 2 to 10 times less than those in other countries, like the US, or in European countries.