Haryana Posts Maximum Growth Last 3 Years
Chandigarh: The cancer burden continues to mount in the region with Haryana recording the highest growth in the incidence rate in the past three years.
Cancer is one of the key causes of morbidity and mortality with the most common cancers including oral, breast and cervical.
The collective estimated incidence of cancer cases, in both men and women, in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh has gone up by 4.95% between 2020 (76,654) and 2022 (80,450), according to data shared by the Union health ministry in Lok Sabha on Friday. Cancer recorded a growth from 29,219 cases in 2020 to 30,851 cases in 2022 in Haryana. In Punjab, the case count rose from 38,636 in 2020 to 40,435 in 2020, while in Himachal, the estimated case count moved up from 8,799 to 9,164 in the same period. As per the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), cancer deaths in the region also went up in the same period, with 16,109 disease in Haryana in 2020 and 16,997 in 2022 while in Punjab the mortality numbers jumped from 22,276 to 23,301 and in HP from 48,56 to 5058 during the same period. Based on the proposals received from the states, the Union health ministry provides technical and financial support under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke as part of the National Health Mission. Under the scheme, Punjab received financial assistance of Rs 1,059.66 lakh between 2019-20 and 2021-22 while funds of Rs 1,024.14 lakh approved for Haryana and Rs 489.28 lakh for HP.
There are 26 facilities offering radiotherapy, a type of cancer treatment using beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells, in Haryana. Punjab has 25 such facilities and Himachal three. National Cancer Institute is being set up in Jhajjar, Haryana, while the department of atomic energy has established centres in Sangrur, Mohali in Punjab for cancer care.
The central government is in the process of implementing a scheme Strengthening of Tertiary Cancer Care Centres Facilities Scheme-under which five tertiary care cancer centres have been approved in the region Government Medical College, Amritsar, Civil Hospital, Fazilka, Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, and Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical College, Mandi.