Interestingly, there is no exact figure of cancer
patients currently in the country, but recently in a round table discussion
experts estimates this number at around 1.5 million. They also said that two
lakh new patients are being diagnosed with the disease every year. About 1.5
lakh people die of cancer; of them 50 thousand die without treatment each year
and victim claim the number is even higher than experts expect it to be.
The number of patients is increasing rapidly each
year with a growth rate close to 50 percent. Hospitals claimed to have had
around 50000 cancer patients in 2005 while the number of patients increased to
18000 in 2010. Most of the male patients are affected by lung and oral cancer,
female patients suffer from cervical and breast cancer and children are mostly
infested with blood cancer. Besides that, cancer can attack different parts of
the body thus making it almost impossible to trace.
Our limited awareness, ignorance as well as
negligence for the causes of cancer are the main reasons for its rapid
spreading. Tobacco and tobacco products are responsible for 50 percent of
cancer cases. The other 50 percent of cases are caused by indiscriminate use of
formalin in food and pesticides in agriculture. In addition, providing vaccines
for Hepatitis B can cause liver cancer, treating HIV can be responsible for
cervical cancer and treatment for H. pylori infections may lead to stomach
cancer.
To prevent
this, we are still not prepared and we even have no preliminary preparation.We
are so careless. Moreover by saving the
ones responsible from punishment, the authority encourages them to be
even more heinous. Even knowing this fact, we common people cannot be united in
this issue.
Recently the World Health Organization stated
that there should be at least one cancer treatment centre providing the
necessary tools and number of beds to treat every 10 lakh people. In this
regard, the government should take steps to reduce the number of cancer
patients by one third along with hospitals in the country.
It is high time for all of us to be aware about
our food habits, use of fertilizers and pesticides and to stop smoking and
taking drugs the problem will outgrow us soon.