cancer research in india

Recently I attended a conference that involved a lot of cancer researchers from all over India. Having attended a lot of US-based cancer research related conferences, this was a first of its kind for me in India. 

Some observations from the meeting:

1. Most cancer research in India is sponsored by pharmas. This means that it will be focussed around drugs which has potential to make most money rather than than the drugs which will be cheap and can help the poor (which is the need in India)

2. Govt. aided researchers have issues like lack of funds, proper infrastructure like labs, computers, high-speed internet, good staff, etc.

A lot of them seem to be doing a great job, like the Adyar cancer center, Chennai.

Also it was very interesting to see how Indian conference are conducted, with every speaker being invited with his/her background - like "Shri Srikanth Adiga is .....", bouquet and momemto for every speaker, etc - which is not something I have ever seen in any international conference. Ofcourse the cocktail dinner was the icing on the cake.

Overall a good conference and an interesting experience.

~Sri