Chandigarh
29 May 2019
DIVYA AZAD
India has leapt towards dubious distinction of being the oral cancer capital of world with the the country contributing to 57 percent global cases of head and neck cancers.
Dr Rajan Sahu, Senior Consultant Surgical Oncology, Paras Multispeciality Hospitals Panchkula said while talking to media persons on World No Tobacco Day. Flanked by Dr. Brig Rajeshwar Singh, Director Medical, Dr Parneet Singh Consultant Radiation Oncology , Dr Jagandeep Singh, Associate Consultant Ortho Oncology and Dr Anupam Gauba, Consultant Nuclear Medicine from Paras Hospitals Panchkula, Dr Sahu said that the situation is quiet alarming especially in the scenario when people do not prefer health tests and annual check ups as basic requirements.
He said that India has dubious distinction of being oral cancer capital of world because of rampant habit of tobacco chewing. 25 lakh total cancer patients & every year 8 lakh cancet patient died, but 3 lakh people die due reason of tabacco chewing. The Health Ministry’s own statistics show that over 65 per cent of cancers in India can be attributed to tobacco use.
Dr Rajan Sahu said that India continues to report highest prevalence of oral cancers globally with around 1.2 Lac new cases of such cancers reported every year.
Chewing tobacco and gutkha contribute to 90 per cent of oral cancer cases in India. He also shared that one third of the cancers can be prevented by lifestyle modification. In India, tobacco alone is responsible for 1.5 lakh cancers, 4.2 million heart diseases, 3.7 million lung diseases every year.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Parneet Singh added that number of new cases of cancer is expected to rise by about 70 percent over the next two decades.
