PANAJI
The State government has 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, issued on Thursday by Under Secretary (Health II) Dr Pooja Madkaikar, invokes Section 57 of the 1985 Act.
Medical practitioners, pathologists, hospitals and institutions diagnosing or treating cancer must now notify fresh cases within seven days, and not later than a month from diagnosis. The DHS' Chief Medical Officer (Non Communicable Diseases) has been appointed as the designated authority to receive these reports.
The notification also directs DHS to establish a State Cancer Registry and surveillance system to compile, validate and monitor cases. Confidentiality of patient information has been stressed, with only anonymised and aggregated data to be published.
The move comes against the backdrop of steadily rising cancer numbers in Goa. Between 2021 and 2025, 4,762 Goans died of the disease -- an average of more than two deaths a day and nearly 80 a month. Data tabled in Parliament also showed that mortality in Goa rose nearly 10 per cent over the five year period, even as nationally, over 4.1 million cancer deaths were recorded in the same span, with Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal reporting the highest tolls.
Goa’s fatalities climbed year by year: 901 in 2021, 932 in 2022, 950 in 2023, 977 in 2024 and 994 in 2025. Incidence too has risen, with more than 8,600 Goans diagnosed in five years -- 144 new cases a month and over four a day. The Central government too is expanding cancer care under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases, with 524 centres opened nationwide.
Goa was also among 19 States and Union Territories which were directed by the Supreme Court of India recently to declare cancer a “notifiable disease.”
The Apex Court's August 13 judgement by a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana had issued the directive in a Public Interest Litigation filed by a retired AIIMS doctor who highlighted gaps in cancer surveillance, noting that the National Cancer Registry Programme covers only about 10% of India’s population.
