Data released by the Pakistan Cancer Patient Welfare Society on the eve of the World Cancer Day has disclosed that the majority of cancer patients who turn up at the cancer unit of the Civil Hospital, Karachi belong to the Sindhi-speaking communities, the cause of which has been described as increasing poverty and lack of state-run healthcare facilities.
Women remained on the top of the list with breast cancer and gastrointestinal tract cancer cases.
The World Cancer Day would be observed on Thursday and the theme has been set as ‘Cancer can be prevented too’ to focus on simple measures for the prevention of the disease including no tobacco use, a healthy diet, regular exercise, and protection against infections that cause cancer.
The World Health Organisation states that cancer is a leading cause of death around the world and its recent report reveals that around 84 million people would die of cancer between 2005 and 2015.
In the cancer unit of the CHK alone, 2,502 cancer patients were treated during the period between 2004 and 2008, out of which 24 percent women patients were suffering from breast cancer, 23 percent male patients were suffering from head or neck cancer and 17 percent patients both male and female were suffering of gastrointestinal tract cancer. Whereas, seven percent patients were children suffering from lymphoma cancer while four percent women were diagnosed with ovary cancer.
The data also reveals that the difference in the numbers of cancer patients on the basis of ethnicity and social background.
The figures state that out of the 1,000 cancer patients who came to the CHK for treatment, 913 were Sindhi speaking and belonged to rural villages where there is a dearth of state-run basic healthcare facilities.
“The main and obvious reason that there is a higher number of Sindhi-speaking patients is their majority in the province, but another factor is many of them belong to rural areas where poverty prevails and there are no healthcare facilities,” said assistant professor and consultant clinical oncologist of CHK, Dr Noor Muhammad Soomro.
What was once the richest province of the country with the highest agricultural productions, minerals and other natural resources, Sindh now languishes in poverty due to the decreasing flow in Indus River from upstream in Punjab, climate change and the policies adopted by government.
The data also reveals that Urdu-speaking communities are second on the list of cancer patients with 896 patients out of 1,000.
“Most of these patients are from the urban areas of the province and majority of them suffer from neck or throat cancer owing to the use of pan or betel nuts,” said an oncologist of the JPMC.
Hindko, Gujarati and Marwari communities are the lowest on the list. “The reason for this is that these communities are minorities in the province and they reside in urban areas of the province including Karachi, where they have access to healthcare facilities,” said the oncologist.
