Mission Statement

TTBC (Tasmia Tahmid Breast Care) Project  programme for Breast Cancer 

TTBC  uses the most advanced techniques and technologies to help diagnose Breast cancer as early as possible. Our specialized cancer care means that patients and their families work with a team throughout the treatment process.

The team brings together professionals with experience and expertise in a range of disciplines. The team's collaboration strengthens the individual treatment plan, encourages patient involvement and ensures a continuous flow of communication. This underlying spirit of cooperation fosters a climate of trust and concern that is conducive to healing.

We offer patients the benefits of all major treatment methods including surgery, medical oncology and radiation oncology for Breast Cancer.

Our aims are to:

• Improve survival rates for Breast cancer patients  in centres where Breast cancer treatment is available, that might include Government and Private centres in Dhaka, by improving diagnosis, optimising treatment and reducing abandonment of treatment.
• Provide accurate figures on the incidence of Breast cancer in Bangladesh and the reasons for mortality.
• Build capacity by providing training in Breast surgery and oncology for doctors and other healthcare professionals at the  National Cancer Institute, BSMMU , Dhaka Medical College, Mitford Medical College and  other satellite centres nationally.

Reaching Out

Studies at regional cancer centers in India show that lower survival rate is primarily due to delayed diagnosis and start of treatment in late stages. The main reasons for delay in diagnosis are lack of diagnostic infrastructure and inadequate specialist services in pathology, radiology, medical and surgical oncology. There is a significant disparity in the distribution of infrastructure and trained specialists in urban and rural areas. This results in majority of the rural patients getting diagnosed with the disease at a later stage - leaving few alternatives for curative treatment, increasing morbidity and mortality.

In order to facilitate timely specialist consultation with minimal burden on patients we propose a regional tele-consultation service between medical colleges to the speciality center at TTBCC.

We believe this will help enable timely referral, appropriate request of investigations, early diagnosis and minimal number of pre-surgical visits for patients who require treatment. This method of integration of specialist services into rural health services will require adequate telecommunication infrastructure at both ends. It has been observed that initiatives such as community screening programs result in early cancer detection, which in turn increases the survival rate and also have significant economic benefits. Medical institutions with their knowledge in epidemiology, prevention and screening in collaboration with the local community cancer screening service and a regional tertiary cancer center can bring about a paradigm change in cancer care in  Bangladesh.

This initiative will empower the entire medical community and public hospital centers to act as secondary centers for early detection and prevention of cancer.  Those patients who are diagnosed with cancer at secondary centers require treatment based on a standardized treatment protocol, which needs to be carried out with the support of a multidisciplinary Sub-site based Tumor Board setup by TTBCC.

At secondary centers, the patient’s care is coordinated and delivered by a coordinator and a care provider. The coordinator verifies the information filled by the health workers. The demographics, diagnostics and clinical care information are captured in the ICT record for tele-transfer. Complicated cases are referred to TTBCC. The coordinators and care providers have access to clinical information of care delivered earlier and further treatment information are captured.

Cancer therapies at various levels are undertaken at  secondary centers. After completion of treatment the patient needs long-term surveillance, which is best carried out in the community in partnership with  TTBCC.
The main advantage of such outreach programs is the ability to target rural people who cannot afford to travel for care and would not otherwise see a doctor for the problem.