The fight against cancer has to be vigorous
One of the major health crisis Kashmir is facing as of now is the detection of cancer cases across the region. Ironically, more than 32,000 cancer cases have been reported across Jammu and Kashmir in recent years, with nearly 79 per cent of the total cases recorded in the valley alone.
Even the data provided by government in the legislative assembly the other day suggested that 25,621 cases were registered in Kashmir division (2022–2024), while 6,804 cases were reported from Jammu division during 2023–2025.
Experts too are baffled as the most commonly detected cancers include that of lung, breast, oral, cervical and prostate, besides, gastro-intestinal malignancies, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach and colorectal region, are also frequently reported.
Though some measures are in place to treat the cases and provide help to them in terms of the costs of treatment and medicines and other facilities, the government needs to cough up more resources and facilities to provide timely relief to the sufferers of the disease.
In this backdrop the decision of the government to strengthen the cancer prevention and care in Jammu and Kashmir, the Health & Medical Education (H&ME) Department is formulating a comprehensive ‘Cancer Control Strategy for J&K’ in collaboration with NITI Aayog, ICMR and Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Punjab, a unit of Tata Memorial Centre.
The strategy aims to establish a structured and coordinated framework for cancer prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, palliative care and research across the UT. The focus will be on optimum utilization of the existing healthcare infrastructure, strengthening tertiary care services and capacity building of human resources through collaboration with reputed national institutions such as Tata Memorial Centre.
Notably, the key component of the initiative will be the rollout of a Population-Based Cancer Registry to enable evidence-based planning, improved surveillance and better management of cancer cases in the Union Territory.
However, what is needed is that the government needs to strengthen the Department of Preventive and Community Medicine as the nodal pillar for effective strategies and screening programmes at district levels.
There is also the need for scaling up of the existing MoU between Tata Memorial Hospital and Government Medical College Jammu and its replication needs to be explored across other medical institutions in J&K so that the cancer cases are detected not only on time but timely care is also provided to the patients.
Cancer care delivery in Jammu and Kashmir needs to be taken up on priority through a coordinated, evidence-based and patient-centric approach. And for this the government needs to engage with other stakeholders so that a comprehensive policy is adopted and implemented to tackle the threat.
