Introduction

The Department of Paediatric Hematology Oncology is functional since April 2017 at the institute. The department caters to patients with blood diseases and cancers. We are involved in the diagnosis and management of childhood cancers, thalassemias, hemophilias, rare bleeding disorders, aplastic anemia, nutritional anemias, primary immune deficiencies and other rare haemolytic anemias and inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. We have been catering to patients from Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, J&K as well as states in North East India. At of this date, we are following up more than 450 patients with hemophilia and allied inherited coagulopathies and 240 patients with thalassemic hemoglobinopathies. We register 100-120 children with cancer each year and follow up more than 500 children with cancer. We also have a bone marrow transplantation facility that caters to both autologous and allogeneic transplantation.

Name of the Faculty

Dr Nita Radhakrishnan

Designation: Associate Professor-cum/or Senior Consultant
Qualification: MD Paediatrics, FNB (DNB Fellowship in Paediatric Hematology-Oncology)
Areas of Interest: Childhood cancers, Blood diseases in children- Hemophilia, Thalassemia, Inherited bone marrow failure, Aplastic anaemia, Primary Immune Deficiencies
OPD: Mondays to Saturdays (9am to 2 pm)
Contact: pho.pgich@gmail.com

Patient Services

  1. Integrated Hemophilia and Thalassemia Treatment Centre: Our centre has been recognised as a treatment centre for both Hemophilia and Thalassemia under the National Health Mission and currently we have registered more than 4500 patients with haemophilia and 200 patients with thalassemia at our centre. These patients can avail all benefits provided by the state such as access to free coagulation factor support in haemophilia/VWD and NAT tested, leukodepleted blood and free chelation in case of thalassemia.
  2. Childhood Cancer treatment: The centre caters to >120 new cancer diagnoses per year. There is provision for diagnostic services including bone marrow evaluation, chemotherapy, central venous access, dedicated nursing support and bone marrow transplantation. In supportive care, the centre provides facilities such as a dedicated dietician, a play area for children with toys and books library and regular activities for children including arts and crafts etc.
  3. Special clinics: We conduct speciality clinics for the various diseases that need chronic comprehensive care with involvement of other specialist doctors, dietician, physiotherapist, dentist etc. The special clinics run by the department are
  4. Mondays: Hemophilia / Thalassemia (in addition to 24×7 treatment services)
    Tuesdays: Primary Immune Deficiency, Aplastic anaemia, Post BMT
    Wednesdays: Hemophilia/ ITP/ Coagulation
    Thursdays: Nutritional anaemia
    Friday: Survivor clinic (Last Friday of each month- Survivor meet Jeene ki Jid)
    Saturday: Thrombosis clinic

    Cashless schemes

    1. Ayushman Bharat
    2. Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi
    3. CM relief funds
    4. Other schemes such as Health Minister’s discretionary fund, HM Cancer fund, State cancer funds

    Service charges

    Hospital charges applicable
    No additional charge

    Academic activities

    • Practical Paediatric Hematology Workshop Aug 2017
    • Paediatric Hematology Oncology Nursing workshop Sept 2018
    • CME on primary immune deficiencies Dec 2018
    • Patient support programs (regular): Parent and patient awareness programs: We conduct patient and parent awareness programs in childhood cancer, hemophilia, thalassemia and other diseases treated in our department. We celebrate all festivals and birthdays with our patient families and strive to make their journey with us as comfortable as possible.
    • ECHO program on Pediatric Hematology Oncology -Monthly activity with medical colleges
    • ECHO program on Patient awareness – Living and Winning program

    Courses and Training offered

    1. IAP Fellowship in PHO: The department has been recognized as a training centre for fellowship in Paediatric Hematology Oncology under Indian Academy of Paediatrics (1 candidate per year, qualification post MD Paediatrics/ DNB Paediatrics).
    2. Nurses training in childhood cancer care: We conduct regular 1-month training programs for nurses working in new hospitals in all aspects of childhood cancer care. Nurses from other states have been referred to us for skill development in childhood cancer care. Our nurses have been involved as trainers and faculty for similar programs.

    Educational material and FAQs

    Success stories

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1P-eneOM6dE?&ab_channel=SSPHPGTI-ChildPGINoida

    Research Projects

    We have an active research program with both national and international collaborations. The funded research activities are

    • My Child Matters- SIOP Grant 2020. Assessment of educational intervention on Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding Hospital Infection Control among caretakers, caregivers and children with cancer (2020-2021)
    • ICMR- Nodal center for state of Uttar Pradesh for “Situational analysis of childhood cancer in India” (2021)
    • WHO- National Institute of Virology for “Study on Polio and Non-Polio enterovirus infections in patients with Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders (PIDs) at multiple medical institutes across India”(2021-2023)
    • DST- SERB: Developing an algorithm to discriminate isolated iron deficiency and megaloblastic anemia from combined nutritional anemia and validating it using a phone based application (2022-2025)

    Publications

    Pubmed link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/?term=nita+radhakrishnan

    Contact Details

    Emergencies: 8130418856 (Social worker)
    Email: pho.pgich@gmail.com, nitark@gmail.com

    Future Plans

    • Develop research laboratories for diagnosis of primary immunodeficiency diseases, Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis, carrier detection and prenatal testing for thalassemia and haemophilia and evaluation of rare bleeding disorders
    • Develop research collaborations with institutes of international and national acclaim which will help in developing indigenous solutions to difficult to treat diseases.