TMC NCG, Navya, ACCF & MSD India Join Forces to Strengthen Cancer Care Delivery

This collaboration aims to boost clinical capabilities and enhance guideline-based cancer care access for patients.

Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF) has partnered with Navya Technologies in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre and the National Cancer Grid, with support from MSD India. This collaboration aims to revolutionise cancer care delivery through a distributed comprehensive care model, emphasising personalised, evidence-based treatment plans for cancer patients.

Dr CS Pramesh, director of Tata Memorial Hospital and convenor of the National Cancer Grid, said, "This is an innovative model to promote guideline-based and expert-backed care plans even in the most remote areas of our country."

ACCF is a joint initiative of the Government of Assam and the Tata Trusts, dedicated to expanding accessible and affordable cancer care. This initiative includes a three-tier comprehensive distributed cancer care network designed to minimise travel time, reduce out-of-pocket expenses, and provide cashless treatment options under Central and State Government schemes.

The network comprises seven state-of-the-art hospitals inaugurated by Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on April 28, 2022. It has since delivered seamless treatment to over 40,000 patients from Assam, neighbouring states, and other countries.

Rehan Khan, managing director of MSD India, said, "We are confident that this unique solution will help deliver the best possible treatment for patients in Assam."

ACCF also extends its reach to communities by organising campaigns, raising awareness, and identifying potential cancer cases, ensuring every citizen has access to cancer care.

Despite this significant progress, the state of Assam still faces barriers in clinical management and healthcare systems, which hinder access and the delivery of quality cancer care. Delays in diagnoses, long waiting periods, suboptimal treatment outcomes, and high treatment costs remain challenges, with low-income patients being the most affected.

In this pioneering collaboration, Navya Technologies, in association with Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) and the National Cancer Grid (NCG), will offer personalised, evidence-based treatment plans. This model will leverage Navya's technological expertise, TMC's decades of experience and knowledge, and NCG's comprehensive treatment guidelines to provide uniform standards of care.

Navya will position clinical resources at Dibrugarh Cancer Centre, a unit of ACCF. These resources will collect patient reports, process them through the system, and make real-time recommendations to support treating physicians. The system matches case reports with data from published literature, national guidelines, and over 100,000 previous cases to generate personalised, data-backed treatment recommendations.

In complex cases, these recommendations will be shared with super-specialised oncologists at TMC or one of the NCG centres, and the feedback will be transmitted back to the treating oncologist at the site. The objective is to ensure that every patient benefits from expert-backed, guideline-based care, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.

The pilot program at Dibrugarh aims to achieve similar outcomes before expanding the offering to cover the entire state. This initiative will serve as a digital backbone for the infrastructure being developed to enhance cancer care throughout Assam.

The partnership between ACCF, Navya Technologies, TMC NCG, and MSD India represents a significant step forward in the quest for equitable and accessible cancer care.

By leveraging technology and expertise, it aims to eliminate disparities in cancer care access, ensuring that every patient in Assam receives the best possible treatment regardless of their location or economic circumstances.