NEW DELHI: A course of standard treatment for early-stage breast cancer treatment costs around 10 years of average annual wage in India, pushing hundreds of thousands families into poverty every year, a World Health Organization report has said.
The report titled, ‘Pricing of cancer medicines and its impacts’, also says that while most drugs required for the treatment of cancers such as breast, lung, colorectal, melanoma and prostate are available in the country, patients have to bear their full costs in the absence of insurance coverage.
The report noted that the average cost of treatment for early state HER positive breast cancer, which is an aggressive form of cancer, is around Rs 12 lakh and has a treatment cost higher than of most other form
of cancers.
In India, the rate of breast cancer, which is the most common form of cancer among Indian women, has gone up by a staggering 39.1 per cent between 1990 and 2016.
“It is important to note that some treatment regimens seem more affordable. For example, for Stage III colon cancer, chemotherapy was intended as an add-on therapy following surgical intervention. This means that the costs of chemotherapy would add significantly to the financial burden in patients who do not have adequate financial protection from public or private insurance,” the WHO report said.
The report also said that in general, standard courses of cancer treatment are more affordable in Australia compared to other countries.
The report issued released by WHO comes close on the heels of a study, carried out by researchers belonging to Interna Institute of Population Council (IIPS), had also said that the mean cost of hospitalisation in India is Rs 19,210 and it is the highest for cancer at Rs 57,232, followed by heart diseases at Rs 40, 947.