PANAJI
Health officials met on Wednesday to draw up a blueprint for reporting cancer cases and setting up a State cancer registry, days after the government declared cancer a “notified” condition under the Goa Public Health Act.
A senior Directorate of Health Services (DHS) official said information dockets on the notification have already been sent to all government hospitals and several major private institutions.
The meeting was held at the State Secretariat in Porvorim and chaired by Joint Secretary (Health) Pranab Bhat.
“It will take us a couple of months to put every detail of the process in place. We will conduct intensive awareness outreach for hospitals and diagnostic centres within a week. The Indian Medical Association and its branches will also be taken on board,” the official told The Goan.
The notification, issued last week by Under Secretary (Health-II) Dr Pooja Madkaikar, makes it mandatory for medical practitioners, pathologists and hospitals to report new cancer cases within seven days, and no later than one month from diagnosis.
The DHS Chief Medical Officer (Non-Communicable Diseases) has been designated to receive the reports.
The order also directed the DHS to establish a State Cancer Registry and surveillance system to compile, validate and monitor cases. It stresses the confidentiality of patient information, with only anonymised and aggregated data to be published.
The move comes against the backdrop of rising cancer cases in Goa. Between 2021 and 2025, 4,762 Goans died of cancer — nearly 80 a month. The number of new cases has also risen, with more than 8,600 cases diagnosed over five years.
