I t is really surprising as well as causing concern that there should be as many as 33000 cases of patients suffering from the dreaded disease of cancer in Jammu and Kashmir as revealed by the records maintained at Hospital Based Cancer Registries at Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu and Sher-e- Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, Srinagar. These figures relate to the registration recorded during the last seven years and majority of them being males. The travesty in many cases, though rare, is the prevalence among even those people who are conservatively adhering to strict discipline in healthcare in respect of eating habits and living a simple life style. However, what could be the precise reasons for the virtual spurt could be analysed and enough light thrown by only the medical experts but the general perception about the spread of the fatal disease is considered to be the prevalence of large scale adulteration, pollution, rampant use of tobacco and also ignoring the initial warnings by the patients which in most of the cases are stated to be treated to full recovery. So far as collecting and compiling data in respect of this disease is concerned, it is being done at centres known as Hospital Based Cancer Registries (HBCR) and there are 96 of such centres across the country including two in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. This data helps in identifying the patients – the cancer burden in society and proper planning by the Government about various ways and creating of necessary infrastructure to treat such patients. Efforts should be made by UT Government to spread awareness about the fatal disease and camps should be held by Health Department to check its surg
Follow our WhatsApp channel