IGMC team visits Baddi to assess cancer cases

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 28

With more than 80 cases of cancer coming to fore in the Saner Gram Panchayat of Baddi area, a three-member team of medical experts from IGMC Shimla led by Dr Vijay Barwal recently visited the area to assess its cause.

As many as 45 cases of deaths due to cancer had been reported in the last three years in the area and the number of those suffering from cancer was also on the rise, confided Doon MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary, who has taken up this issue with the state health authorities recently.

Dr Barwal said they had collected clinical data of 90 people in the concerned area where deaths took place due to cancer as well as those suffering from various types of cancer in the last about five years.

He said the data was being assessed and they were focusing on its causes — hereditary, environmental or other factors — which could have led to this disease. Samples of air, water and soil can also be drawn if environmental factors appear to be triggering this disease.

The MLA informed that nine persons of Manpura village falling under Gram Panchayat (GP) Lodhimajra and 26 others of various villages like Balyana, Buranwala, Upper and Lower Barer, Manjhotu, Barotiwala had died of cancer. Apart from this, two persons of GP Bhatoli Kalan and a child from GP Malpur were also afflicted with cancer. As many as eight persons from GP Saner had died of cancer while seven others were under treatment, taking the toll of those who had died of cancer to 45 in the Doon constituency.

The 42-year old Hakmi Devi from Belikhol village was undertaking treatment at the PGI Chandigarh. Hasan Mohammed (52) had died in April 2015. The 60-year old Rehan Deen, 68-year old Gita Ram, 42-year old Nek Ram and 22-year old Vijay Kumar all died in 2015, while 65-year old Gurdae succumbed to the disease in January 2016. They lost their lives while being treated either at the PGI Chandigarh or CMC Chandigarh. They hailed from Kasombowal village in GP Saner. These people were suffering from cervical, lung, blood and oesophagus cancer.

Since these people had not been treated in the state government hospitals the Health and Family Welfare Department does not have complete records of such patients.

With several pharmaceutical and other types of industrial units lying in the vicinity of such villages the rising cases of cancer have brought their working under the scanner. It remains to be seen what type of chemical contamination existed in the water and soil samples of these villages where cancer has become a life threatening disease.