New Delhi: Five-year survival rate for breast cancer in India is 66.1 per cent, according to a study.The 5-year survival for breast cancer is as high as 88.2 per cent in Canada, 68.78 per cent in Thailand and 76.5 per cent in Poland, According to an article “Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival 2000-14 (CONCORD-3), published in LANCET.However, the coverage of Population in the study is reported to vary from higher coverage in European Countries while it is reported to cover about 0.1 pc of population in India.
The study has indicated various reasons for variations in survival rate of cancer and impressed upon the need of( Population Based Cancer Registries PBCRs) to evaluate both the impact of cancer prevention strategies and the effectiveness of health systems for all patients diagnosed with cancer.
National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), an institute under Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is implementing National Cancer Registry Programme. The NCDIR has also initiated a project on “Population Based Cancer Survival on Cancers of breast, cervix and head and neck across 28 PBCRs.The Central Government supplements the efforts of the State Government for improving healthcare including prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Cancer, according to official sources here.
The objectives of National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) being implemented under National Health Mission (NHM) for interventions upto district level include awareness generation for cancer prevention, opportunistic screening, early detection and referral to an appropriate level institution for treatment.
The focus is on three types of cancer namely breast, cervical and oral cancer.A population level initiative of prevention, control and screening for common NCDs (diabetes, hypertension and cancer viz oral, breast and cervical) has been rolled out in over 150 districts of the country in 2017-18 under NHM, as a part of comprehensive primary healthcare. The screening activity will generate awareness on risk factors of common NCDs including cancer.
The Government of India is implementing “Strengthening of Tertiary Care for Cancer facilities” Scheme under NPCDCS to assist to establish/set up State Cancer Institutes (SCI) and Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCC) in different parts of the country. Oncology in its various aspects has focus in case of new AIIMS and many upgraded institutions under PradhanMantriSwasthyaSurakshaYojana (PMSSY). (UNI)