Lucknow: Leading with Uttar Pradesh, the country in 2017 has recorded 15.17 lakh cancer cases by various cancer registries in India against 14.5 lakh cancer cases in 2016. Of these, 5.75 lakh belonged to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 2.5 lakh cases.
Speaking about UP, health experts blame it on the use of paan masala and tobacco. Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi , a cancer surgeon from UP working in Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, has called up on UP government to ban paan masala in public interest. “Tobacco’s role in cancer is well understood. But paan masala, which also contains cancer causing agents, is not taken as seriously as it should be. In UP, there are localized patterns of tobacco consumption of which paan masala is a key ingredient”, he said. According to the experts, the figures may be an underestimation of the real scenario in Uttar Pradesh. “There is a need for more cancer-based registries to study the pattern and trend which is essential to formulate specific preventive strategies. After all, cancer is one the top 10 killers in the world and the available data shows one in eight people in India die of cancer”, said Dr Shaleen Kumar, head of the radiotherapy department at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences. Only those cases get registered that come for cancer treatment, said experts. “A large number of patients keep getting treatment from doctors and even quacks. Lack of awareness and resources prevents them from coming to specialized cancer hospitals,” said the doctor. said.
Interestingly, one in three cancer cases come from BIMARU states – mainly UP, Rajasthan and Bihar. Maharashtra accounts for second highest cancer burden in the country with 1.38 lakh cases. Bobby Ramakant, a well known anti-tobacco activist, said “Data shows the magnitude of the challenge before health authorities. I hope the figures compel them to act strongly against tobacco, paan masala and other cancer causing agents. The national health policy has promised to bring down cancer burden to one-third and we are waiting for the results”. ICMR has already projected a 25 per cent increase in the country’s cancer burden by 2020.
