Nearly 68% of cancer patients in India die, says panel

Nearly 68% of cancer patients in India don't survive, a panel of lawmakers has noted with concern.

India's cancer mortality is not only way above the countries with Very High Human Development Index like the Scandinavian nations and the USA (38%) but also more than High RDI countries like Russia (57%).

“The mortality data is reflective of our systematic failure to provide treatment to the rising number of cancer patients. India's existing cancer care infrastructure is highly inadequate. A majority of the cancer patients have to travel to far-off locations, sometimes thousands of kilometres for their treatment,” the MPs said in their report submitted to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday.

Worryingly, the disease burden shows an upward trend with time. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer's GLOBOCAN project, India's cancer burden will rise from an estimated 1.3 million cases in 2018 to about 1.7 million in 2035.

The new report from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forest and Climate Change comes days after a study by Indian, Canadian and US researchers showed that 44% of cancer deaths in India happened in northeastern states, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, Assam, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka.

Using population and mortality data for 2010-17 from the Registrar General of India's Sample Registration System, the team estimated that in 2017, there were 5,44,000 cancers deaths in India. The study, published in the journal Lancet last week, was not discussed during the MP panel's deliberations.

“India's estimated cancer burden by 2035 is worrisome. There is an urgent requirement of cancer centres in especially under-served parts of the country so that the cancer patients don't have to travel longer distances, shelling out a major portion of their earnings to receive cancer treatment,” the House Committee, headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in its report.

The lawmakers favoured replication of the Tata Memorial Centre's Hub-And-Spoke model with active support from the central and state governments for money and land respectively.

First few hubs, says the panel, can be set up in areas with the increasing incidence of cancer due to inadequate infrastructure.

While one such hub is functioning at the Railways Hospital in Varanasi with the TMC backing, the House panel suggested transforming the Dr B Barooah Cancer Institute at Guwahati into a common hub for the North-Eastern states that have high cancer prevalence.

This was the first report submitted by a Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee after they were reconstituted in September 2019.