Syringe with drugs for cancer treatment.
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Bengaluru: The Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, managed by the state government, is struggling to maintain accurate cancer survival data as doctors at PHCs and other centres often omit cancer while certifying deaths.
Doctors frequently attribute deaths of cancer patients to heart attacks, organ failure or other coexisting conditions, without recording cancer as the underlying or secondary cause. Experts say this distorts survival statistics.
Ideally, doctors are required to list the immediate cause of death and note cancer as a contributing condition if it worsened the patient’s health.
Dr T Naveen, Director of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, told DH, "This is absolutely an issue of awareness from both the doctors and patients' families. We already have International Classification of Diseases coding in place; it needs to be promptly followed."
He said following procedures would help keep accurate survival records.
Dr Vijay from Kidwai said: "To compare the data to the number of cancer deaths a decade ago and now, we do not have reliable data because of this. Doctors should ask if the patient had any other serious conditions while certifying the death and the patients’ family should inform the doctor, too. We have written to the health department about it as well."
A PHC doctor, seeking anonymity, said: "While we are sometimes not informed about the condition of the patient, doctors do not make an effort to enquire or fill the complete form."
Doctors often certify the immediate cause and close the case, the doctor added.
The 2023 Population-based Cancer Registry (PBCR) of Karnataka recorded 21,608 cancer cases, of which 12,500 were new. Oral cancer is among the leading types in the state, with lung and liver cancers most common in men, and breast cancer among women.