BENGALURU: All measures by both the state and the central governments to fight cancer are inadequate, said President Pranab Mukherjee. He was speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the State Cancer Institute at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology here on Wednesday.
The President also emphasized on the need for affordable healthcare in the country asserting that getting treatment at affordable prices is still a far cry for many.
He said, “The cost of cancer treatment has been increasing owing to huge investments on trained manpower and equipment. Sustained and collaborative multi-agency efforts are needed to minimise the suffering of patients and their families.”
Putting Bengaluru on the forefront, he added, “This city, which is known as the Silicon Valley of India, can take a lead in the management of cancer treatment by adopting latest technologies and best global practices.”
Revealing his fears about the disease, he said, “The incidence of cancer has been increasing worldwide and India too is showing a steep increase in cases over the years. From the data available with the National Cancer Registry Programme of ICMR, it has been estimated that on an average, one in about 15 men and one in about 12 women in urban centres would be at risk of cancer in their lifetime.”
These figures, coupled with our rapidly growing population, underline the challenge that the medical fraternity and policy planners will face in cancer mitigation and prevention, he added.
Speaking on big data, the President said that in future, better data accumulation will help fight cancer. “Efforts have been made by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to make cancer a notifiable disease on a national basis with the objective of generating authentic data on cancer and associated issues which will help map the resources for diagnosis, treatment and cancer control,” he said.
“Reliable data will help in understanding the magnitude of this disease and formulating a more comprehensive and nuanced cancer care policy. Early detection is normally a game changer in the overall treatment and management of cancer which will get a boost with reliable data,” he added.
It is a matter of great concern that a vast majority of cancer-afflicted patients are reporting it at an advanced state, he added.
“We need to develop a system for early detection and proper disease management. We need to explore how technology can be best utilised for both prevention of cancer and its treatment. An appropriate and well-defined communication strategy will be one of the key factors in the fight against cancer,” he said.
[This city, which is known as the Silicon Valley of India, can take a lead in the management of cancer treatment by adopting latest technologies Pranab Mukherjee, President