Cancer to be made notifiable disease
The government is planning to make cancer a “notifiable disease”, which will mean every case will have to be reported. Till now infectious diseases like polio, plague, H1N1, H5N1 (bird flu) figure in the list of notifiable diseases. Recently, tuberculosis was made a notifiable disease. Cancer would become the first non-communicable disease to be included in the same category.
Officials in the Union health ministry disclosed that government is seriously considering to make cancer a notifiable disease and the decision in this regard will be taken very soon. The move, officials say gains significance as it will help know the actual magnitude and its burden in the country, as it will become mandatory for all the hospitals-government as well as private to report cancer cases. The existing cancer registry developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) contains data mostly from the government hospitals
In India, four lakhs die of cancer every year, with the deady disease being the third largest killer in the country. In developed countries, cancer is the second leading cause of death, accounting for 21 per cent (2.5 million) of all mortality.
In developing countries, cancer ranks third as a cause of death and accounts for 9.5 per cent (3.8 million) of all mortality. By 2015, the number of new cases in India is expected to rise further.
The three most common fatal cancers are — oral (including lip and pharynx, stomach, and lung (including trachea and larynx) in men.
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