Northeast becomes cancer capital of India with highest new cases: Report

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh’s Papum Pare district and Aizawl in Mizoram recorded the highest incidence of new cancer cases in the country among females and males respectively, as per a government report.

The report, released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (IMCR) and National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), stated that Papumpare district has 219.8 per one lakh cancer cases among females.

Mizoram’s capital Aizawl has 269.4 per one lakh cases among males, it said.

“Northeast India is the cancer capital of the country with the highest age-adjusted cancer incidence rates of newly diagnosed cancer cases in the country,” said Dr Kaling Jerang, the principal investigator of Population Based Cancer Registry (PBCR) at Bakin Pertin General Hospital (BPGH) in Pasighat.

The PBCR project under the ICMR-NCDIR, Bengaluru, has been studying the cancer trends under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), he said on Tuesday.

He hoped that the cancer data revealed by the project will be used by the government in policy-making decisions regarding cancer prevention, treatment and management.