Karkinos Healthcare Introduces CerviRaksha Against Cervical Cancer

KOCHI:
India accounts for nearly one-third of the global cervical cancer deaths, with women facing a 1.6% cumulative risk of developing cervical cancer and 1% cumulative death risk from cervical cancer 1 . Studies show that 99% of cervical cancers are caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Of the 100 known types of HPV, HPV-16 and HPV-18 account for 70% of cervical cancers globally.

Persistent HPV infection can develop into cervical precancerous lesions and cervical cancer. Of the three types of cervical cancer test methods, HPV testing is the gold-standard. It is the most preferred test by gynecologists, worldwide, owing to its clinically proven data. HPV test offers several advantages including high accuracy, early detection, and its high negative predictive value. The test paves way to better treatment protocols and boosts survival rates.

As a pledge to protect, care, and uphold the women of India, Karkinos Healthcare – a technology driven oncology-focused managed health care platform, has introduced CerviRaksha, a first-of-its-kind clinically validated HPV test, which is pre-qualified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, USA (FDA) and was also granted the CE mark meeting European Health Standards.

Commenting about the need for gold standard HPV testing methods to eliminate cervical cancer, Dr. R Sankaranarayanan, Director, Preventive Oncology at Karkinos Healthcare, said, “Among all the cancers, Cervical Cancer is completely curable, only if detected early. However, in India, the yearly incidence rate of cervical cancer is 18% and the yearly mortality rate is 11.4% 2 , which could be unquestionably brought down to a great extent in the next five years, if only we generate enough awareness about the efficacy rate of HPV Test. Because of its high negative predictive value, once tested, the chances of developing cervical precancerous lesions or cervical cancer in the next five to ten years becomes extremely low.”

The need of the hour is to bring about widespread awareness on cervical cancer prevention, screening, testing, and treatment. “The awareness of the HPV Test in India is pretty low, as it is mainly limited to higher-income groups. Karkinos Healthcare, therefore, is on a mission to democratize cancer care in India and in-sync with this mission, the company has introduced CerviRaksha HPV Test, targeted at all Indian women,” says Sripriya Rao, Co-Founder and
Chief Growth Officer (Women Wellness) at Karkinos Healthcare.

CerviRaksha has been introduced in partnership with Karkinos’ network hospitals, doctors, and corporates. And for the first time in HPV testing, sample collection at home is made possible to encourage more women to participate in this screening.

The test can be booked very easily through the Karkinos Healthcare website. The applicant can book the test following five very easy steps. A medically trained “CerviRakshak” will perform the sample collection from the comfort of the applicant’s home and the applicant will receive test results via email in 7 days from the date of shipping the collected sample.

CerviRaksha HPV test also identifies the high-risk HPV-16 and HPV-18 genotypes individually. This enables the gynecologists to plan the treatment protocols accordingly. There is an inbuilt filtering of false positives and false negatives for additional accuracy. Priced at ₹2499, CerviRaksha ensures early detection of lesions in the cervix caused by HPV.