Increase awareness on cancer in India : Health experts

NEW DELHI – Stressing on the need to increase awareness about cancer in India, health experts today warned that number of cancer patients in the country would soon replace the population of Sweden. Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, health experts Ashutosh K Tewari (Director Prostate Cancer Institute) and Dr Sameer Kaul (SeniorSurgical Oncologist, Indraprastha Apollo) said there is a dearth of public awareness and cancer specific institute in the country.

“Currently one million Indians are suffering from cancer and if the figures aggravate in the future, the number of cancer patients in India would soon replace the population of Sweden,” Dr Tewari said.

Dr Kaul said, “statistics reveal that India will be home to over 11 lakh cancer patients by 2015 wherein the most prevalent cancer in men would be tobacco related and in women cervical/breast cancer.” Dr Tewari said innovation in cancer treatment technology can help combat the situation. In this context, Dr Kaul pointed out that in the 12th five year plan, the government has proposed to allocate 15,885 crore for cancer treatmentand by 2017 India will have two national cancer institutes, 200 secondary cancer institutes and 100 tertiary cancer institutes. Yuvraj Singh, renowned Indian cricketer who has himself battled the disease, said, “it is difficult to fight against cancer but not impossible.” “People run away from it but it is important to fight back. One should talk about it with friends and family instead of going into a nutshell. I would urge people to avoid tobacco consumption, adopt a healthy lifestyle and go for a routine check-up” the cricketer added

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