Despite having treatments and early diagnostics facilities in place, the SAARC countries are seeing increasing incidences of cancer. According to health professionals, it is mainly due to increased risk factors such as tobacco and alcohol use and unhealthy diets among others.
The issue was highlighted at the 13th SAARC Federation of Oncology International Conference in Thimphu. The two-day conference was held with an aim to bring future collaborations in the field of cancer and its management
The mouth and lung cancer are the most common cancers among the male in the SAARC region. Breast cancer is listed as leading cancer in women.
Experts say the lack of proper awareness and the high cost of cancer treatments have led to a higher cancer burden in the region today.
“Cancer is a very expensive treatment in all modalities. And patients in our SAARC regions are not so rich. So the treatment challenge depends upon affordable price. So from this level, we are trying to minimize the cost of treatment with cheaper chemotherapy drugs or cheaper surgery, that is our future project,” Professor Dr R.P.Baral, the Senior Consultant Clinical Oncologist of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, said.
Maintaining hospital-based cancer registry and multi-collaborative partners with international cancer organizations are some of the solutions besides creating tobacco-free society.
However, in Bhutan, the cancer scenario is different.
“We have more stomach cancer. It could be due to our genetic makeup or due to risks or might be of our diets which are different from the other SAARC countries. And cervical cancer is because of early marriage, multiple childbirth, not doing screening and pap smear,” Dr Ugyen Tshomo, the Gynaecologist with JDWNRH, said.
According to the Bhutan Cancer Society, over 2,000 new cancer cases were diagnosed from 2014 till last year.
