India records 13.92 lakh new cancer cases in 2020: Health ministry

New Delhi, February 11

Cancer incidence and cancer mortality in India rose consistently over the past three years with all states and UTs in the north reporting a rise in cancer deaths over time.

The Health Ministry on Friday informed the Lok Sabha that new cancer cases in the population has risen from 13,25,232 in 2018 and 13,58,415 in 2019 to 13,92,179 in 2020. Over the corresponding period, the cancer mortality nationally went up from 7,33,139 (2018), 7,51,517 (2019) to 7,70,230 in 2020.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya gave the answer in reply to a question by Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, who said the UT had no oncologists or surgical oncology specialists even as disease burden was rising and patients have to travel to far-off cities, including PGI in Chandigarh, to seek treatment.

In a supplementary question, Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi said Jammu and Kashmir was facing a shortage of PET scan equipment.

The minister said the Centre was in the process of setting up health and wellness centres across villages with facilities to screen oral, breast and cervical cancers. —