Former Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu felicitates cancer warriors

Hyderabad: Former Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu felicitated cancer warriors and care-givers on the occasion of World Cancer Day on Saturday at Medicover Cancer Institute.

The Institute aims to raise awareness on cancer with the campaign "Close the Care Gap." Naidu, chief guest at the event, stated that cancer diagnosis caused a lot of mental distress for care-givers as they needed to take care of all the logistics. The family atmosphere can be very depressing then, he said.

“The word cancer is very terrifying and can cause anguish. Our duty is to be present with our loved ones as much as possible, to honour the struggle, roll up our sleeves and help them fight,” he added.

Dr Srinivas Juluri, director of surgical oncology at Medicover Cancer Institute, said cancer cases were increasing due to unhealthy lifestyle habits. “Generally people have a lot of misconceptions that cancers are genetically transmitted from one person to another but that is not completely true. It is estimated that one in nine people in India is likely to develop cancer in their lifetime,” he said.