Cancer spreads tentacles in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, May 1

Over the past four years, the district has seen an average of over 5,000 cases of cancer, with around 5,493 cases reported in 2022 alone. According to sources in the Health Department, several deaths have occurred during this period. While the number of cases last year was slightly lower than in 2021, cases of lung cancer have been on the rise.

According to officials at the Health Department, the number of lung cancer cases last year was 13.84 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2021. In 2021, 5,655 patients registered for the treatment of lung cancer, compared to around 3,958 in 2020. Of the 5,493 cases reported in 2022, as many as 2,941 cases were related to categories other than lung, cervix and breast cancer. Lung cancer is the most prominent category of cancer detected in this period, and the number of cases has been increasing since 2020, going up from 1,124 to 1,340, which is a 19.21 per cent increase in three years, they added.

Another significant point to note is the rise in cases of oral cancer, with over 1,000 cases reported in the past two years. The number of cases, which was 19 in 2020, rose to 527 in 2021. Around 450 deaths have been reported since 2019, it is claimed. A resident of Mirzapur village, Narveer Yadav, claims that untreated waste released by the defunct sewage treatment plant in the village has wreaked havoc, as four members of his family have died from cancer in the past two years. His 62-year-old mother is currently battling cancer.

“Discharge of pollutants in air and water by hundreds of units engaged in electroplating, aluminium extraction, dyeing and chemical industry has led to acute polluting conditions, making Faridabad one of the most polluted cities in the country,” says Varun Sheokand, who has filed several petitions in the NGT over the issue.

Dr Akhil Mahajan, a physician, blames pollution for the rise in cancer cases. Exposure to high levels of air pollution can cause a variety of adverse outcomes, such as respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer, he added. Water contaminated with high levels of arsenic has been associated with skin, bladder and lung cancer, he said.

Air, water pollution primary reasons

Both short and long-term exposure to air pollutants has been closely associated with excessive premature mortality, as fine PM 2.5 particles penetrate deep into lung passageways, causing respiratory infections and heart diseases. Water contaminated with arsenic has been associated with skin, bladder and lung cancer. Dr Tarun Kashyap, Dr Akhil Mahajan, physicians