Every 8th female, 9th male at risk of developing cancer in UT: Report

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 28

One in eight females is at the risk of developing cancer in the UT and breast is the most common cancer site among them, reveals the Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Chandigarh (2015-16) report released by the PGI today.

Similarly, every ninth male is at the risk of developing cancer and lung is the most common primary cancer site among them.

In the year 2015-2016, the Population Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) registered 1,800 cancer cases. Among them, 907 were males and 893 females. The registry reported 787 patients, including 454 males and 333 females, died of the disease.

“The Administration should take an initiative to make cancer a notifiable disease in the UT as in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana. The registries will be useful to monitor cancer trends,” read the report.

Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, and the PGI, with cooperation of the Directorate of Health Services, UT, established the PBCR at the School of Public Health, PGI. It was set up to establish baseline data to assess the burden and pattern of cancer cases of the area. Prof JS Thakur from the Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGI, is the principal investigator of the registry.

A total of 33 data sources comprise cancer hospitals, general and private hospitals, pathology laboratories and birth and death registrar offices. Around 66.6 per cent of the registered cancer cases were from the PGI.