Operations Management Interventions in Cancer Care Delivery in LMICs: The Way Forward

Cancer care sector has received significant attention worldwide after an increase in cancer incidence and related mortality every year. There is a large disparity in access to care for cancer patients in view of increasing case number, limited and urban centric cancer care facilities and resource intensive management of cancer along with many other sociodemographic factors. Cancer care delivery is facing many operational challenges at different steps of care globally and it is more pronounced in LMICs. Research directed towards Operations Management (OM) research can provide solutions to many of the challenges encountered during different steps of cancer care and can help us to manage cancer care delivery landscape with cost cutting and quality improvement. The promising abilities of OM is often overlooked for improving various aspects of cancer care despite the fact that its deployment can create OM surplus where the capitals can be tapped to improve the quality of care for the cancer patients. This paper discusses that fundamentals of OM principles must be implemented for creating resilience and gaining effectiveness and efficiency throughout the cancer care operations.