PANAJI
More than two months after Goa made cancer a notifiable disease, private hospitals and healthcare institutions are yet to begin reporting cases to the State’s proposed Cancer Registry, health officials have said.
The State government had, in a landmark move, declared cancer a “notified disease” under the Goa Public Health Act, making it mandatory for all newly diagnosed cases to be reported to the Directorate of Health Services (DHS).
The notification was issued in a bid to create a comprehensive State Cancer Registry and strengthen surveillance of a disease that continues to claim more lives each year.
However, officials now say the private sector has yet to respond.
“We have not received any response from private hospitals, either offline or through email,” a senior doctor in the DHS dealing with the matter has said.
Government institutions, on the other hand, have already begun reporting cases. Goa Medical College and the two district hospitals have joined the exercise, with officials scrutinising submissions to eliminate duplication before adding cases to a central database.
The doctor, however, said private hospitals should be given more time.
“To be fair, they should be allowed at least three months to comply from the date of notification,” he said.
The notification, issued by the Health Department under Section 57 of the Goa Public Health Act, requires medical practitioners, pathologists, hospitals and institutions diagnosing or treating cancer to report fresh cases within seven days, and not later than one month from diagnosis.
The Chief Medical Officer heading the Non-Communicable Diseases at the DHS has been designated to receive reports, while the DHS has been tasked with establishing a State Cancer Registry and surveillance system to compile, validate and monitor cases.
Officials have also stressed that patient confidentiality will be protected, with only anonymised and aggregated data being published.
Soon after the notification was issued, health officials had also met to draw up protocols and systems for reporting cases and setting up the registry.
The government is now also planning to launch an awareness campaign targeting hospitals, diagnostic centres and private practitioners, and will seek the cooperation of the Indian Medical Association.
The urgency of the initiative is underlined by the rising mortality in Goa due to the disease. Between 2021 and 2025, as many as 4,762 Goans died from the disease, averaging more than two deaths a day.
Incidence is also on the increase with more than 8,600 new cases in the same five year period or as many as four new cases every day.
Health authorities feel a robust and updated registry will provide reliable data on cancer trends to help strengthen planning for early detection, treatment and resource allocation.
