Cancer should be declared as notified disease: Parliamentary panel

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Nakul Shivani • 1 Years ago
Representational Image
Representational Image

 

New Delhi

The parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare has recommended that cancer be classified as a notifiable disease.

The 139th report on "Cancer Care Plan and Management: Prevention, Diagnosis, Research & Affordability of Cancer Treatment" was submitted to the Rajya Sabha Chairman on Monday.

"The Committee notes that Cancer is still not classified as a notifiable disease which results in underreporting of cancer deaths. The Committee notes that ambiguity on the actual cause of death is a major hurdle in data collection," the report mentions.

"It has been brought to the notice of the Committee that many times death is simply recorded as a cardio-respiratory failure without mentioning the actual cause of death," the report adds.

The Committee gave the view that an accurate mortality database in the hospital information system will improve cancer registry, follow up and outcome data.

"The Committee, therefore, agrees with the suggestion of TMC that cancer must be classified as a notifiable disease so that the cancer deaths are mandatorily required to be reported to the Government machinery," it said.

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The committee, headed by MP Ram Gopal Yadav has recommended the creation of a CoWIN-like portal for registration, real-time data collection, counselling, supportive resources for cancer care along with interactive tools.