Cancer on the rise

By Maheesha Mudugamuwa

Over 12,000 new cancer patients seek treatment at the Maharagama National Cancer Institute every year, a medical officer of the hospital says.

He that there had been an increase in the incidence of breast cancer in the country during the past 20 years. Women between 50 and 69 were in the high risk category and About 4.7 per cent of female deaths were due to breast cancer, he said stressing hat most of the cases were detected too late for effective treatment.

NCI statistics reveal that over 72 percent of the patients seeking treatment for oral and lung cancers are smokers. Oral cancer is the leading cancer among men. Tobacco use was the single most important risk factor for cancer, he said.

In many countries, more than a quarter of deaths are attributable to cancer. Cancer rate could further increase by 50 percent to 15 million new cases in the year 2020, according to the World Cancer Report.

According to the WHO statistics cancer rates are set to increase at an alarming rate globally. In 2007 around 7.9 million people world wide died due to cancer.