The Society lost two of its Managing Committee Members since Dec 2021 – ShriGangaram Morajkar (15/08/1933 to 01/12/2021) and Shri. Sitaram Karapurkar (20/11/1949 to 03/09/2022). The Society deeply grieves for this incredible loss.
Shri Gangaram Morajkar joined as a member of the Society in 1970s. In the year 2000 he became Managing Committee Member of the Society. He had been very active and instrumental in the major programs of GCS. He managed to get well known personalities of Goa as members of the society.
Shri .Sitaram Karapurkar became Member as well as Managing Committee Member of GCS in 2000.He would attend all the meetings and share his valuable advice on important matters of the Society.
Major Programs of the Goa cancer Society
1) Financial Assistance Scheme with Manipal Hospitals, Goa
The Goa Cancer Society in association with Manipal Hospitals is running a Financial Assistance Scheme for treatment of cancer patients since 2014, where the Society and Manipal Hospital contribute 50-50. Till date we have helped more than 445 patients sanctioning more than 1crore.
In the financial year (2021-22) we helped 108 patients ( 69 females & 39 males) with amt. sanctioned of Rs.48 lakhs and bills paid were Rs.28,28,897/-
2) Financial Assistance to patients other than Manipal Hospital
The Goa Cancer Society also helps the cancer patients from hospitals other than Manipal Hospital. During the FY(2021-22) total of 8 patients (6 females & 2 males) were assisted with the amt of Rs.2,75,000/-
Patients came mainly from GMC, Menezes Hospital – Margao, Tata Memorial Hospital-Mumbai, Healthway Hospital-Panjim etc.
3) Dr.Sharad Vaidya Cancer Screening Package
As this cancer screening package was available throughout the year since 30th Oct 2018, more and more people are availing this facility at Manipal Hospital-Goa.
In the FY(2021-22) total of 141 patients (122 females & 19 males) used this package and amt paid by GCS was Rs.2,37,250/-
4) DILASA a project Centre for terminally ill, Farmagudi, Ponda.
The Society has made Corpus donation of Rs.20 lakhs against sponsor of four rooms (two rooms with five beds, one patient’s relative room and one medical store room).
The Goa Cancer Society signed Agreement with IMA Ponda Charitable Trust on 12th May 2016 to associate with DILASA-Centre for Terminally ill, where corpus donation of Rs.20 lacs against sponsor of 4 rooms (2 rooms with 5 beds and 1 Relative Rest Room at first floor and 1 Medical store Room at Ground Floor) at Farmagudi, Dilasa Project Ponda.
Apart from corpus donation the Society has agreed to promote, support and provide all possible help in the activities like Cancer Detection Camps and Cancer Talks .Cancer Camps and CMEs .
The Society sanctioned Rs.4,44,392/- to 20 patients(F-13, M-07) cancer terminal ill cancer patients.
5) Research Projects-Funding and Support
The Society has set aside a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs per annum to encourage research in cancer by the doctors of Goa.During the FY(2021-22) total 3 research projects were financially approved,
(i)Dr. Shameer Ahmed, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Dept of Biological Sciences, Zuarinagar-Goa
Research proposal on “Doxorubicin loaded prgylated gold nanoparticles synthesis and to test chemoradiation potential as drug delivery system and radiosensitizer for oral squamous cancer cell line”.
(ii)Dr. Angshuman Sarkar, Ph.D, FICB, Associate Professor, BITS PILANI, K. K. Birla Goa Campus, Zuarinagar-Goa
Research project titled “Study of efficacy of Quinacrine (QC) on inhibition of migration, proliferation, angiogenesis and vesicle trafficking network of human Non-small cell lung cancer cells”.
(iii)Dr. Manjeeta Dhume, Dept. Of Oral & Maxilofacial Pathology Goa Dental College & Hospital Bambolim-Goa
Research proposal on, “EXPRESSION OF eIF4E IN SURGICAL MARGINS IN HEAD AND NECK SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA – AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY.”
In the FY (2021-22) the Society has paid Rs.5,11,409/- for these 3 projects.
- Note by Dr.Shameer Ahmed
It gives me immense pleasure to submit the report to you with all the information wrt to grant provided to me.
I am delighted to share that I have successfully defended my Ph.D Thesis on August 30th, 2022. The open viva-voce was hosted by AGSRD and conducted by my supervisor Prof Vijayashree Nayak at BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus. It was an awesome experience cum journey from being a Dentist to becoming a Scientist in progress.
I had the honor to have an external/ opponent, a Physician Scientist Dr. A K RENGAN MBBS, M Tech, PhD Associate Professor – Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.
My Ph.D. research topic was the “Chemoradiation strategy using PEGylated gold nanoparticles anchored with Doxorubicin against oral cancers – A nanomedicine in vitro approach”, I am wholeheartedly thankful to The Goa Cancer society, Goa for sponsoring a research grant utilising which I was able to procure require chemicals and reagents for the thesis. A big part of the thesis required me to travel from BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa campus to Manipal Hospital, Dona Paulsa, Goa, the transport was also allocated by the TGCS which helped in transporting the samples safely.
During the Ph.D tenure I was able to secure a senior research fellowship (SRF) from CSIR- Govt of India post the interview at Delhi. I would express my gratitude to Dr. Gunjan Baijal Radiation Oncologist, Manipal Hospital Goa for guiding me. A basic description of the thesis – As with all anti cancer therapeutics some drawbacks, adverse events or resistances develop. To combat this scenario, I put forward my proposal, a chemoradiation strategy via nanomedicine approach. I was able to synthesize a gold-based drug delivery system where Doxorubicin was anchored along with PEG polymer for bioavailability enrichment. The nanomedicine synthesis was extensively characterized by various collaborations with esteemed institutes. Lastly, a MoU was signed with Manipal Hospital Goa (Oncology Unit), it helped us get access to LINAC radiation and CT scan facility. A huge burden of oral oncology is borne by India. By previous experience with the oral environment as a Dentist I selected an oral cancer cell line as target cancer. The radiation damages the DNA, Doxorubicin is a DNA damaging agent the gold nanoparticle beneath would enhance the damage in a synergistic pattern. This hypothesis was proved, at the end these nanoparticles were capable of performing as contrast agents when tested in CT scan. Overall, a theranostics material was generated.
As a closure view of the project, I have passed my PhD with 8.81 CGPA, a thesis was written both soft and hard copies were submitted. Two research articles were published which are the chapters in the said thesis.
I can’t thank enough for the opportunity and support provided by – The Goa Cancer Society, Goa –The President and the Managing Committee Members.
I have made sure to mention the support and financial assistance given by The Goa Cancer Society in all publications and thesis or even any talk related to the thesis. I do project the support even on social media in a positive light.
- Note By Dr.Anghuman Sarkar
A combinational drug approach studies on non-small cell lung cancer cells work was successfully carried out from a grant received from Goa Cancer Society during 2020-2021 by Dr. Angshuman Sarkar and his team in BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus:
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a subtype of lung cancer, accounts for most diagnosed cases and fatalities contributed to lung cancer. NSCLC is known to have one of the lowest patient survival rates amongst all cancer types. As per clinical statistical data available, roughly 24% of patients diagnosed can survive for five years post-diagnosis. Despite the advancement of diagnostic tools and innovative therapeutics, metastatic spread and the development of chemoresistance are the two significant challenges preventing the disease’s curing and increased the lifespan of patients. I have received a project from Goa Cancer Society during 2020-2021 on comparative study on the efficacy of quinacrine in comparison with clinically approved therapeutics on inhibition of migration, proliferation, angiogenesis and vesicle trafficking network of ‘non-small cell lung cancer cells. It is my pleasure to summarise that following works were successfully carried out and our major finding are as follows: (1). Quinacrine a common antimalarial drug was found to be interacting and binding with VEGFR2, a receptor of the VEGFR family, well known for its pro-angiogenic signalling leading to vascular endothelial cell proliferation, (2) The torsion of both drugs QC and Sorafenib were seen to concentrated around a certain vale, suggesting both the drugs are accommodated well in their binding pockets and may be more useful in management of certain specific types of cancer treatment, (3) Both quinacrine and dasatinib showed significant dose dependent inhibition in the human lung cancer cells than using alone and lastly (4) In vitro results indicated that quinacrine inhibited the kinase activity of VEGFR2, Lyn and further inhibit the cell migration process through altering the molecular expression profiles of pro migratory genes.
Our work was recognised in various top rated cancer biology related and pharmaceutical International journals like ‘Oncotarget’, ‘Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy’, ‘Scientia Pharmaceutica’ etc
6. Make a wish foundation
We work in collaboration with Make a wish Foundation India fulfilling wishes of cancer kids.During the year 2021-22 we have paid 1.5 lakhs fulfilling wishes of around 19 kids.
7. Other programs FY( 2021-22)
Governers donation of Rs.1 lakh
His Excellency the Governer of Goa Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai launched the logo of IMA Goa “Care of the Old with a Heart of Gold “at GCCI Hall near Azad Maidan on 17/03/2022.
The dignitaries on the dais were welcomed with bouquet and flowers. His Excellency the Governer of Goa Shri P.S. Sreedharan Pillai launched the logo of IMA Goa “Care of the Old with a Heart of Gold “ which showed a doctor helping an elderly couple with a golden heart behind them.
The dignitaries on the dais were Rufino Monteiro, President IMA Goa State, Shri P. S. Shreedharan Pillai – Governer of Goa, Dr. Suresh Shetye Vice-President. The Goa Cancer Society, Dr. Mahesh Naik – Secretary and Dr. Deepak Murthy – Managing Committee Member of the Goa Cancer Society.
Other GCS Managing Committee members off the dais were Dr. Pramod Salgaonkar and Dr. Sitakant Ghanekar.
All IMA Goa branch Presidents were present. Dr. Shekhar Salkar made a presentation of activites of the Goa Cancer Society in the last 10 years which highlights the late Dr. Sharad Vaidya Cancer subsidised screening package, Financial assistance to needy cancer patients where the society has spent a whooping 1 crore 45 lakhs helping 435 patients till date, GCS also helps patients from other hospitals upto Rs.50k each patient. DILASA palliative care unit where terminal patients are treated and care is taken, Annual lectures are conducted where eminent national and international cancer specialists are invited, Cancer detection camps are conducted in the remote parts of Goa and lastly the Research sanctions-huge sanctions are made to research doctors some of their papers are published in international journals.
After the impressive presentation by Dr. Shekhar Salkar the IMA president Dr. Ruferio Monterio made presentations of activities and programs conducted by them.
The Governer then presented the cheque of Rs.1 lakh each to the representatives of GCS, IMA Branch presidents etc. The Governer was so happy to present the cheques and said though the funds are poor the intention is rich.
The program was very well organised by Dr. Shekhar Salkar and his team.