Kerala records 55,000 new cancer cases
The Cancer Care initiative by Health Department manages to detect 1,800 cases, of them 800 in rural areas.
Kochi: A reply under Right to Information Act reveals that on the average 55,000 new cancer cases are registered yearly at the registry at Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. But a consolidated list of the total number of cancer patients, including those turning up for follow-ups, was not available. Health department stats point to more than 20,000 cancer deaths every year. The RTI reply was given by Sobha K R, junior superintendent at the health department. Mr Dhanaraj Subhash Chandran, a Kochi-based RTI activist and IT professional, had sent the RTI query.
The Cancer Care initiative by Health Department manages to detect 1,800 cases, of them 800 in rural areas. The state government conducts 13 different programmes. There are non-communicable disease clinics in all district General Hospitals. Insulin and other NCD drugs are being given free of cost. There are mobile lifestyle clinics and other lifestyle diseases. RCC’s hospital-based Cancer Registry in Thiruvananthapuram started in 1982 under the network of Indian Council of Medical Research.