Oral cancer cases are increasing in India; Know why it is rising

This disease does not appear in 60 to 70 percent of patients until it reaches the third or fourth stage.

New Delhi: Oral cancer has become a major challenge in India. About one-third of all oral cancer cases reported worldwide are registered in India. Not only this, in our country this cancer makes up about 30 to 40 percent of all cancer cases, while in western countries it is limited to only 4 to 5 percent.

What is worrying is that in India, this disease does not appear in 60 to 70 percent of patients until it reaches the third or fourth stage.

Figures show serious situation

According to the Global Burden of Disease report, about 77,000 new oral cancer patients are found in India every year and more than 52,000 of them die. In the year 2018 itself, more than 1.19 lakh new cases of oral cancer were registered in the country and more than 72,000 people lost their lives. These figures account for about 9 percent of the total deaths due to cancer in India.

Why is it detected late?

There are many reasons behind oral cancer being detected so late:

Tobacco and betel nut consumption: Smokeless tobacco, gutkha, pan-masala and betel nut are still the major causes.

Lack of awareness: People ignore early symptoms such as white or red spots, ulcers that do not heal for a long time or frequent pain in the throat and tongue.

Delay in health services: The process of investigation and diagnosis is often lengthy. A study found that about 58% of patients in Kerala took more than 30 days to correctly identify cancer.

Onset at an early age: Now cases of oral cancer are increasing rapidly even among the youth.

Lack of screening facilities: Most primary health centres do not have regular oral cancer screening or trained doctors available.

What is the expert's opinion?

Dr. Manish Singhal (Senior Consultant, Medical Oncology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals) says that "Most patients reach the hospital when their cancer is in the third or fourth stage. In this situation, treatment becomes difficult. If cancer is detected in the early stages, the chances of survival for five years are up to 90%, whereas if it is detected late, it remains only 20%."

Doctors say that examining the mouth in front of a mirror once a month and taking any unusual symptoms seriously can be very helpful in the direction of proper treatment.

What could be the solution?

Collective efforts are necessary to deal with this problem in India:

Running awareness campaigns in every village and city.

Implementing standard oral screening process at primary health centres.

Strict control on things like tobacco and betel nut and providing de-addiction services.
Strengthening the National Cancer Registry so that timely statistics and data are available.
Developing new low-cost technology and AI-based solutions so that cancer can be detected at an early stage.
Oral cancer is preventable and can be completely cured if detected in the early stages. What is needed is awareness, regular checkups and staying away from tobacco. If we take timely steps, then 70% of the cases which are detected late today can be identified at an early stage and thousands of lives can be saved.