CHENNAI: Continuing their initiative in raising awareness about cancer among people in the state, the Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital conducted an essay competition on the role of the public in fighting cancer. All participants in the competition were summoned to MMC on Independence Day and felicitated by MMC Dean Dr Kanagasabai. Such initiatives have been going on ever since 2004, said Dr SM Chandramohan, Head, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, who was instrumental in organising the state-wide essay competition.“When we first announced the competition to all schools, colleges and institutions, we had an overwhelming response. We then asked all educational institutions to limit their entries to 10 and send only the best among them,” he said. Much to the department’s surprise, many of the essayists were cancer survivors, while the next highest group of participants were engineers and students. “Considering the enthusiasm shown by the participants, we decided that everybody deserved a medal for their participation,” said Chandramohan. Of all the entries, a special panel of judges comprising non-doctors with “high social concern”, selected 10 essays in English and five in Tamil. Most of the essayists urged people (in their essays), not to ignore initial symptoms that could well be cancerous and visit a specialist at the earliest possible date. The entries were accepted only till August 10 and were judged before Independence Day. More such initiatives that draw the public’s attention towards cancer awareness will continue, added Chandramohan.
Comments
0 comment