From AIIMS Delhi To All Around The World: Oncology Expert Dr. Abhishek Shankar (Part-1)

Dr. Abhishek Shankar: Yes, I write a special column every month in a newspaper called "Indian Express". This is one of the health promotional activities. This is a preventive measure. I think we Indians know better about effective vaccination after we successfully vaccinated the Indian population with the COVID vaccine.

We have conquered many diseases like smallpox and polio in children through the effective universal vaccination program. The incidence of tuberculosis has come down drastically. The vaccination efforts and India’s vaccination strategy are worth learning experiences for many. I think if you want to learn how to make a good campaign and how to make an effective one, the "Polio Eradication Program’ is the best program to learn from our country. Many countries learned a lot from this program. So, we all should advocate for HPV vaccination. HPV vaccination is safe and effective. It helps to decrease the incidence of six important cancers in males and females.

Dr. Abhishek Shankar: I am an educator and an oncologist. During COVID-19, I observed that people were missing important medical information. They were struggling hard to get legitimate medical information. During that time, social media spread misinformation. Also, in some cases, it helped many people access the correct information.

Many lives could have been saved during that time if people had acted on the information. That time I realized that whatever scientific writing you do, you write a research paper that should have some components about which people need to be aware. Our team started publishing many articles on social media, print media, and electronic media. I started writing for news agencies. The research information can be simplified in such a way that it can be understood by everyone. Lack of awareness is a concern for every disease area, and cancer is no exception.

Dr. Abhishek Shankar: You know there is something called natural immunity and vaccination immunity. Vaccination is used to boost your immunity. So, probably, people have their own philosophy. I will probably stick to evidence-based practices, as philosophy can help you solve many of life's problems, but when it comes to science, it is only evidence-based.

India has a population of 138 crore people, so we have diverse practices, different languages, and different dialogues, so people have problems and freedom of opinion. Our ultimate goal is to save patients' lives and add value to their lives. So, this is for doctors to learn.

To overcome these challenges, the best way is to read and reread authentic sources. Because I may be wrong, everybody may think, but if thousands of people have opinions, if you come up with any challenges, impediments, or clinical trials, then you can’t deny them until and unless you come up with some clinical trial against that and you have also tested and proven that.

Science gives answers to everything, and it provides us with good design studies to provide answers to our questions. So any anecdotal report or anything else should not be encouraged in science. We, as doctors, are trained to save lives, so we have to read a lot.

Dr. Abhishek Shankar: I would like to narrate one story about when we saw one patient with a liver lesion and everyone thought it was metastatic. We suddenly decided to go for a biopsy as he was a very young patient, and any stomach cancer patient with liver metastasis has a very poor prognosis. We did a biopsy, and it came back negative for cancer. The patient is alive after nine years.

So, your decision-making is very important, even if many people try to discourage you. It happens to everyone who deals with the medical sciences. Some decisions you make are enjoyable. At that point, you might be skeptical about taking those decisions, but when the outcome is better and you see that your patient is surviving because of that decision, it really gives you happiness.

Stay tuned for the second part!