Editorial: Growing cancer burden
Cancer care is inaccessible and expensive for the majority of Indians. The infrastructure for cancer treatment is limited to just about 100 towns and cities. While most of India's cancer patients stay in towns and rural areas, the bulk of healthcare resources are in larger cities
Despite an alarming rise in the number of cancer cases in India, the issue hardly gets the attention it deserves from the policymakers and health authorities. Cancer is the third-largest cause of death in India after heart and respiratory diseases. The key problem lies in the late diagnosis of the disease. As a result, only 30% of cancer patients survive five years after diagnosis. Unfortunately, cancer treatment facilities are not available in most district-level hospitals in the country, and often, cancer patients and their families sell their assets to come to cities for treatment. There are not enough radiotherapy machines, trained technicians or oncologists in India. Patients struggle to get adequate palliative treatment. At the governance level, cancer is clubbed with diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, vying in a common programme that gets only 20% of the health expenditure despite being the cause of 60% of all deaths. Environmental factors, including growing air pollution, lifestyle changes, dietary preferences, and genetics, are playing a part in the rising cancer epidemic. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the survival rate for a cancer patient in Europe and America is 90% whereas in India it is 60%. Ironically, more money is being spent on new cancer drugs that show marginal results while essential cancer drugs are inaccessible in low and middle-income countries where 70% of cancer deaths occur. In India, around 100 out of every 1 lakh people are diagnosed with cancer.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the estimated number of incidences of cancer cases was more than 14 lakhs in 2023. Despite some policy initiatives and improvements in healthcare infrastructure, several challenges remain in the areas of equitable access, early detection, and treatment facilities. Though the cancer burden is rising rapidly, cancer care is inaccessible and expensive for the majority of Indians. The infrastructure for cancer treatment is limited to just about 100 towns and cities. While most of India’s cancer patients stay in towns and rural areas, the bulk of healthcare resources are in larger cities. In fact, 40% of the infrastructure for cancer care is concentrated in the top 10 metros. Healthcare experts also point out that making cancer drugs available in interior parts of the country is one of the biggest tasks for the healthcare system. Unfortunately, only 30% of cancer patients are able to avail themselves of treatment in government hospitals. The rest are left at the mercy of private hospitals, or worse, nothing. Given that a large number of patients come from economically distressed backgrounds, the cost of cancer drugs is a big deterrent to their access to high-quality treatment. The rapid rise in cancer cases is largely due to lifestyle changes, tobacco use, poor dietary habits, and inadequate physical activity. According to estimates, approximately 8 lakh new cancer cases are reported every year.
