Cancer cases on the rise in Rayalaseema

Kurnool: With contaminated water bodies, vegetative greens and lead particles in the dust contribute to the increase in the incidence of cancer in the region.
Rayalaseema region is also known to have huge deposits of barites, asbestos, uranium, limestone, granite, quartz that also are known to provide risk of carcinogens in the atmosphere.

As per medical records at the Kurnool Government General Hospital, every day 200 out patients from Kadapa, Anantapur, Chittoor, Kurnool and Mahbubnagar districts get screened for cancer related ailments. Almost all of them are from poor back grounds who cannot afford costly oncology treatment, a duty doctor said.

The most common 10 cancers were lung (9.9 per cent), stomach (9.7 per cent), cervix (9.4 per cent), breast (9.3 per cent), head and neck (8.1 per cent), primary unknown origin (4.4 per cent), ovary (4.3 per cent), HCC (4.2 per cent), NHL (4.2 per cent), oesophagus (3.5 per cent) and CML (3.4 per cent).

A duty doctor said that “lung and stomach cancers were the two most common malignancies. Other common cancers were carcinoma uterine cervix, breast, head and neck region cancers, primary unknown origin, hepato cellular carcinoma, NHL, ovary and oesophagus.”

The Kurnool General Hospital, the only major public funded hospital in the region, has been burdened with a heavy rush of patients. The facilities in the hospital, however, are woefully inadequate, according to a doctor who does not want to be quoted.

The hospital was promised a sanction of Rs 350 crore from Japanese funds.
Out of this, however, only Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for building a cancer ward with the latest equipment. This promise is yet to be fulfilled, it is learnt.

Pulivendula, Kamalapuram, Tadipatri, Railway Kodur, Rayachoti, Kolimigundla, Betamcherla, Dhone, Gadwal, Kollapur and Yemmiganur are some of the areas in Rayalaseema from where incidence of cancer patients was growing , the doctor said.

The Thummalapalli Uranium project in Pulivendula area is said to be the most hazardous cancer causing activity going on in Kadapa district. With cement factories abounding in and around Pulivendula, Kamalapuram and Jammalamadugu areas in Kadapa, people are living without any cover to protect themselves from the monstrous cancer.

The Opposition Leader in the Assembly, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been urged to get the closure of these mines but nothing has happened so far.