PANAJI
More than one person a day are being diagnosed with one or the other type of cancer in government healthcare facilities of the State and the annual tally of cancer cases has remained a little under the 500 mark.
The cancer threat, however, is higher than this number reflects, a senior health official said, pointing out that the data does not reflect patients diagnosed with the life-threatening disease in the State's private healthcare sector.
According to DHS data, the number of patients detected with cervical, colon, oral, breast and a few other types of cancers in government facilities over the last five years was the highest in 2022 at 499.
The year 2021, when public healthcare facilities and resources were overstretched dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, recorded 247 cancer cases in government facilities, the least for any individual year in five years since 2019.
"Possibly, since our facilities were overstretched due to the pandemic, people may have preferred to avail private oncology services which may explain the lower number of cancer cases in 2021," a senior health official said, adding that cancer numbers have consistently remained under the 500 mark.
In 2019, 462 cancer cases were reported from government facilities in the State and this number drastically dropped to 322 the following year (in 2020) when the pandemic hit the State in March.
These numbers of cancer cases reported from government facilities declined further to 247 in 2021 but rose sharply and more than doubled to 499 in 2022.
Meanwhile, the incidence of breast cancer in Goa has remained consistently high at over 100 cases each year since 2019 except in the two pandemic-hit years of 2020 and 2021 and is the cancer type that spikes the female ratio in cancer patients in the State.
Except last year when men slightly outnumbered women, the incidence of cancer in the female population of the State has been reported to be higher for the four years between 2019 and 2022.
A medical officer from the DHS, who requested anonymity, said that cases of oral cancers have been on the higher side consistent with the rising trend of chewing 'gutka' and other tobacco products in the population. In 2019, there were a total of 127 cases of oral cancer reported from government facilities and the numbers have remained at that level each year, again showing a decline in the two Covid hit years of 2020 and 2021.
