ICMR Report From January onwards, 1,335 cancer cases reported in Chandigarh

ICMR collects the cancer data of the country under its National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP). Hospital-based cancer registries are functional in various hospitals across the country. In Chandigarh, such registries are located at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) and GMCH at Sector 32.

According to another ICMR report, also presented in the Rajya Sabha, the health ministry said the estimated incidence of cancer cases in 2014 in Chandigarh was 1,162, while the numbers were 1,217 and 1,274 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In all the UTs and states, the estimated incidence of cancer cases till August is 15,17,426.

The ICMR report has also provided data of other Union Territories, too. According to that report, Delhi recorded 20,899 cases, Puducherry 1,687, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 443, Lakshadweep 96, Daman and Diu 504 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli 542.

“Increase of cancer is not limited to Chandigarh. It is increasing across the country,” Dr Rakesh Kapoor, Professor, Department of Radiotherapy, PGIMER, who is actively involved in the cancer registries in Chandigarh, told Chandigarh Newsline. He said Chandigarh doesn’t have the highest incidence of cancer and is equivalent to the national average.

A population-based cancer registry (PBCR) report, prepared by Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai, and PGI, which was released last year, said Chandigarh’s Sector 38 West and Manimajra recorded the maximum number of cancer cases and deaths in the city in 2013.

PGI doctors said the 2014 report, which is being prepared, would be released in a month.

Last year, an ICMR report had said that the ratio of cancer among boys recorded at PGI’s hospital cancer registry between 2012 and 2014 was 10.2 per cent against the total number of cancer cases, while the ratio was 6.3 per cent among the girls.