GEM Hospital performs laparoscopy on 15-year-old to remove tumour.

Fifteen-year-old Bhavya (name changed) ignored her health while she was busy preparing for her tenth board exams. Irregular periods didn’t bother her much as her only aim was to score well in the boards.

Little did she and her family realise that it was a 12cm tumour in her ovaries that was giving her the trouble. As it started developing, the girl was rushed to GEM Hospital and Research Centre where doctors found the tumour to be malignant.

An emergency laaproscopic surgery was performed on the girl and the ‘para aortic lymphnodes’ was successfully removed.

Briefing the media, Dr. C. Palanivelu, chairman, Gem Hospital, highlighted the lack of awareness among the public on the symptoms of cancer. “It is curable when treated at the early stage,” he said and added that 10 to 20 per cent of ovarian tumours in children are cancerous. “Of this 40 per cent are gem cell tumours. When it grows the patients develop severe pain in abdomen, heaviness in the area,” he explained.

The hospital, along with Rotary Club of Coimbatore, has decided to perform surgeries to cure cancer free of cost to people from the lower sections of society. “It will cost a few lakhs to perform a surgery. But it will be free for poor people,” he said.