A panel of judges evaluated several pictures drawn by children with cancer and announced the winners. The children were very happy to receive the award. On the occasion of February 15, which is celebrated worldwide as the day against child cancer, the VP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur organized a painting competition among the children undergoing treatment on Saturday.

The picture drawn by a girl who is studying class 9 under treatment in the hospital is the first. Apart from painting, she also prepared colored dolls from the lids of medicine bottles used in her treatment. She said that she is getting better after coming to the treatment and hopes that she will recover with medicine as well as self-strength. His father, who was with him, said that the hospital provided good service. In the

program, a young man who was treated for cancer five years ago in the same hospital shared the experience that he is now free from the disease. He said that he was diagnosed with colon cancer when he was 15 years old, came to the hospital on time and underwent surgery, then after 6 stages of chemotherapy, he was cancer-free within a year and even now, there is no possibility of cancer after regular examinations.

Child cancer can be completely cured if the disease is diagnosed on time and treated properly, Dr. Krishnasagar Sharma Paudel, head of pediatric cancer at VP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, said . But due to the lack of public awareness about the treatment of cancer in Nepal, very few people come to the hospital for treatment. He said that even if he comes to the hospital, if he does not take regular treatment services, the rate of recovery may be low.

VP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Bharatpur is the main cancer treatment hospital in Nepal. Treatment services started in this hospital in 1999, and a pediatric cancer unit was started in 2007 with two beds and one doctor. Currently, the pediatric cancer unit has 6 doctors and 37 beds. Dr. Poudel said that HDU and ICU beds are also available.

According to Dr. Paudel, it is estimated that 1,500 children in Nepal will get cancer every year. Among them, up to 900 people have come for treatment in various hospitals across Nepal. "There is a large number of children who do not come for treatment," says Dr. Poudel. 10,000 children come to OPID every year in Bharatpur Cancer Hospital alone.

Among them, the number of children admitted for treatment after being diagnosed with cancer is up to 700 people a year. Dr. Poudel informed that half of the newly diagnosed cancer patients are children. "After the cancer is confirmed, 70 percent of the children are completely cured if they complete the treatment in the hospital". But they also leave without completing the treatment, said Dr. Poudel.

There was no healing after not completing the treatment . Dr. Poudel said that among those diagnosed with cancer, only 40 percent of those who are cured remain. Therefore, it is inevitable to come to the treatment and regularize the started treatment, he said. In Nepal, people up to the age of 19 have been placed in the pediatric cancer group if they have cancer. But the government facility is available to those up to 14 years of age .

'For children up to 14 years of age, all tests, surgeries, therapy and beds in the hospital for cancer are free . Medicines had to be bought. It also has a lot of support and insurance. About three and a half lakh rupees, the medicine is available with facilities and concessions, said Dr. Paudel .

But children between 15 and 19 years old have to pay a fee for the facilities they get from the hospital . The World Health Organization (WHO) is giving free 35 types of medicines for children with cancer from this month. Doctors hope that treatment services will become more accessible. But Dr. Paudel said that concessions should be made for children between 15 and 19 years of age by making policy arrangements.

Bharatpur's cancer hospital has also set up a pain-free service unit for children with incurable cancer. Dr. Poudel says that it is necessary to add facilities like bone marrow transplantation. Even when born in Nepal, children get cancer .