East Khasi Hills has the highest rate of tobacco-related cancers in India, Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek informed today, a damning consequence of the public’s ignoring of health warnings.
Two out of every three (66.9 per cent) cases of cancer in males in the district is down to tobacco use, while the rate among women is around two in five (43.1 per cent), he informed the Assembly during Question Hour.
According to the National Cancer Registry Programme’s cancer statistics for 2020, East Khasi Hills has the second-highest incidence rate of cancer in the country.
Between 2015 and 2019, Shillong Civil Hospital registered 7,014 cancer cases, of which 4,350 were among males and 2,664 were among females, an average of more than 1,400 per annum.
Hek also informed that the Health Department is in the process of augmenting the existing treatment of cancer at Shillong Civil Hospital by setting up a cancer treatment centre at the Department of Atomic Energy-Civil Hospital Cancer Wing and steps are being taken to make it functional as early as possible.
The minister informed that the cancer wing will be equipped with the latest radiotherapy treatment facilities.
Hek also informed that the department of Oncology at Shillong Civil Hospital is already catering to the needs of cancer patients with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, pain and palliative care services and surgical oncology.
