SRINAGAR: Decades after the diagnosis and treatment of cancer was developed, Kashmir is still far away from treating the terminal disease in an effective way. And this is not because of lack of capable doctors, but because of lack of infrastructure, both in private and public sector hospitals.
Jammu and Kashmir has been witnessing a surge in number of cancers patients with data showing that there are 26,366 patients affected by the disease. In Kashmir alone, according to a study titled `Epidemiology of Cancers in Kashmir, India: An Analysis of Hospital Data’ by doctors Mariya A Qureshi and others, stomach cancer cases were the most, followed by colorectal cancer (16.4%) and lung cancer (13.2%). Between 2010 and 2016, the number of cancer cases at SKIMS increased from 1,400 to 4,300.
About 21,000 patients have died due to cancer since 2018, with 6,800 patients in 2018, 700 in 2019, and nearly 7,200 in 2020, the study found.
Why is it that people are dying of cancers in Jammu and Kashmir if the first treatment facility was set up in 1970’s, some five decades ago, at GMC Srinagar. According to Dr Gul Muhammad, Head of Department, Medical Oncology, SKIMS, apart from the precautions people have to take to prevent the illness, the medical facilities to diagnose cancer are multi-pronged and the treatment process takes time. Efforts on the part of society and the government can get both in place, he said.
Dr Sameer Koul, an oncologist with over three decades of experience in treating cancer patients, said that the recovery rate is low in J&K because the diagnosis happens at a later stage of cancer, when the treatment remains mostly ineffective. He said that 80 percent of cancers are detected at late stages.
“If the diagnosis of cancer happens at the earlier stage, the recovery rate gets better. Here patients come when they are mostly at the third stage of the cancer. They should have been diagnosed earlier, which is possible only when there is preventive oncology. It is at this stage when the disease can be found and treated. But that does not happen in Kashmir,” he said.
Dr Gul, however, said that the recovery of patients from cancers in Kashmir is nearly 30 percent, which is at par with world standards.
Besides diagnosis, according to Dr Koul, the lack of facilities is another issue. “We have PET scans but they are not enough to meet the patient load. SKIMS and GMC are not able to keep up and people have to wait for treatment. This proves dangerous. Otherwise, doctors are doing the best,” said the senior oncologist.
A growing number of cancer cases has been reported from three districts of north Kashmir: Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora. The three districts have recorded a total of 21 percent of cancer patients in Kashmir division, according to a population-based cancer registry available at SKIMS. But there is no facility for treating such patients at a dedicated oncology department at Government Medical College Baramulla.
Kashmir’s first facility for treating cancer patients was set up at GMC Srinagar in 1970’s. Over the years, the department graduated from a single room to a dedicated centre, where medical and surgical oncology departments have been set up. But it does not meet the growing rush of patients and people have to wait too long, which proves fatal, for their turn to receive treatment.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz