In Haryana 13 lives are lost from cancer everyday

Kurukshetra, October 12, 2019: “Cancer these days has become the biggest killer after heart disease. According to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), around 1,300 Indians die every day due to cancer. India registered 11.6 lakh new cancer cases in 2018, according to GLOBOCAN, however, that number will hit 20 lakhs by 2040. In Haryana alone 13 lives are lost from cancer everyday.”

Dr Jatin Sarin, a cancer expert and head of oncology at Chandigarh Cancer & Diagnostic Centre, Ivy Hospital,Mohali and Alchemist Hospital, Panchkula stated this while talking to media during a press conference here on Saturday.

He said , “India's younger population and the long-standing use of tobacco, is the main cause of cancer in the country and responsible for 40 percent of cancer cases in men and 20 percent in women. In men, the top three cancer killers were oral, stomach and lung cancer, while in women, they were cervical, stomach and breast cancer.”

He said further that numbers of cancer cases are expected to rise by 70% over next two decades in India. Cancer is still considered as a stigma in Indian society and women having breast cancer do not speak about it openly fearing being stigmatized by their own family and friends. The attitude towards cancer from our society has made cancer patients invisible, preventing open discussion and creating a vicious cycle of fear and misinformation for the masses. This is what is hindering attempts to raise awareness about avoidable cancer risks and the importance of early detection. Also, most of the cases in our country are diagnosed very late and according to the statistics of WHO, more than 60% of the women are diagnosed with breast cancer at stage III or IV in India. This drastically affects the survival rate and treatment options for the patients.

The emerging high rate of obesity among Indian women raises an alarm. For instance, one in every five women was obese as per the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015-16. In Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, NCT Delhi, Chandigarh, Puducherry, over 30 per cent of women were obese, he informed.

Meanwhile Dr Sarin also praised the government’s decision of banning single use plastic in India. He added, “The single-use plastic that we see around gets converted to nano plastics and do damage at the cellular level. The cells initially don’t recognize plastic as food but since they are dependent on protein for their growth, over time the protein absorbs nano plastics layer by layer until it is mimicked as food for cells. It gradually gets degraded inside the cell and gets converted into a component called styrene, which is a possible carcinogen.”