Only 90 hospitals in Karnataka are sending cancer data to NCDI

Two years after Karnataka made cancer notifiable, only 90 hospitals across the state send data to the cancer registry, Dr Prashant Mathur, director, National Centre for Disease Informatics and Researc
Deserted OPD at Sagar Hospitals at Kumarswamy Layout as private hHospital are on strike in Bengaluru (EPS | Jithendra)
Deserted OPD at Sagar Hospitals at Kumarswamy Layout as private hHospital are on strike in Bengaluru (EPS | Jithendra)

BENGALURU: Two years after Karnataka made cancer notifiable, only 90 hospitals across the state send data to the cancer registry, Dr Prashant Mathur, director, National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research, told Express. He was speaking, among other experts, at the second International Cancer Congress, being held at Clark’s Convention Centre in Devanahalli.

On July 27, 2015, Karnataka became the fourth state in the country after West Bengal, Tripura and Punjab to make cancer notifiable. “But the problem is that it became notifiable by an administrative order and not a legislative order, so there’s no legal implication for not sending data. Diseases like Small Pox and Polio that were eliminated were made notifiable through legislative orders,” said Mathur.

Mathur among others were discussing the challenges of making Cancer a notifiable disease at an Epidemiology session at the Congress. “Across the country, only 150 hospitals send data to the National Cancer Registry Programme. Only 90 hospitals send data in Karnataka,” he told Express.

Also, the data collection is active, as in, the social investigators at the registries run from pillar to post to get data. This should change, said, Dr Aleyamma Mathew, Professor and Head, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. “We need to make a lot of effort to get data now. It is not like people sitting at the Registry are automatically sent data,” Mathew said.

Mathur said, “Yes, passive data collection is desirable. That means there should be seamless data transmission to a central repository. Presently, hospitals don’t have many health information systems. Ongoing data collection is not systematic but random. Communicable diseases like TB have a reporting format, cancer doesn’t.”

Cancer is a notifiable disease in nine Indian states currently. Cancer Registry data largely aids in programmes aimed at controlling tobacco consumption and alcohol prohibition programmes, and other policies. At present, there is a two-year gap between diagnosis and registration of cancer.

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