A survey of the educational environment for oncologists as perceived by surgical oncology professionals in India

An Institutional Review Board approved questionnaire was developed to target the audience of the 2009 annual meeting of the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology in India. The survey collected demographic information and asked respondents to provide their opinions about Oncology education in India.A total of 205 out of 408 attendee's participated in the survey with a 42.7% response rate. The majority of respondents felt that Oncology education was poor to fair during medical school (75%), residency (56%) and for practicing physicians (71%). The majority of participants also felt that the quality of continuing medical education was poor and that minimal emphasis was placed on evidence based medicine.The results of our survey demonstrate that the majority of respondents feel that the current educational environment for Oncology in India should be enhanced. The study identified perceptions of several gaps and needs, which can be the targets for implementing measures to enhance the training of Oncology professionals.According to the World Cancer Report released by the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) in 2008, cancer has surpassed cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in January 2010 [1]. The report estimated that in 2008 there will be 12 million new cases, 7 million deaths and 25 million persons living with cancer within five years of diagnosis [1]. By 2030, it is estimated that there will be 26 million new cases diagnosed annually. This increase in the global cancer burden will be mainly due to a disproportionate rise of newly diagnosed cancer cases in the developing countries such as India. India, China and Russia are predicted to account for more than half (53%) of the cancer cases and 60% of the cancer-related deaths [1]. Several factors have been cited for this disproportionate rise of new cancer cases in the developing world such as, rising population [2], enhanced life span [3-5], greater tobacco consumption [6-8] and rising bod