Film about KAKS commitment in Bangladesh
Thanks to our patron Anne Gesthuysen, who made this film possible together with the filmmakers Christian and Markus Dassel.
As in most developing countries, retinoblastoma is diagnosed too late in Bangladesh. In around half of the children who are admitted to hospital in Bangladesh with suspected retinoblastoma, the cancer has already spread to the brain due to the late diagnosis.
Without chemotherapy, this means certain death. But most families cannot afford chemotherapy, so the children have to die.
With Dr. Roy, who participated in our ICO Fellowship Program in Hyderabad, India, we initiated a very moving treatment program. We want to enable the children to receive chemotherapy with sponsorship money in order to save the lives of as many children as possible.
For this program, the Chittagong Eye Infirmary, one of the main reference and training centers for ophthalmology in Bangladesh, has agreed to provide staff and facilities for chemotherapy if KAKS covers the cost of the medication.
The medication for a complete course of chemotherapy costs just EUR 700 (6 cycles).
Every EUR 700 that KAKS collects for this project is a real chance of survival for a child in Bangladesh.
The first two patients are now undergoing treatment. We hope for extensive support to enable all affected children in Bangladesh to receive this treatment.
At the same time, we want to improve early detection in Bangladesh so that the number of children in whom the tumor has already migrated to the brain is reduced. This in turn reduces the number of children who have to undergo chemotherapy. In Bangladesh, there are already many so-called Screening Eye Camps and vision screening programs in schools, which we would like to use and address and which we would like to win over for cooperation in early detection.
Dr. Soma Rani Roy is an ICO fellow from Bangladesh, she completed 3 months fellowship in Retinoblastoma from 1st July to 30th September 2016 at L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, under supervision of Dr. Swathi Kaliki, director of the Operation Eyesight Universal Institute for Eye Cancer in Hyderabad, India.
She has now returned to Bangladesh to treat RB children with the knowledge she has gained through her KAKS fellowship.
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