33,318 deaths reported in last five years, says first state-wide survey

The first ever state-wide survey of cancer victims in Punjab has revealed high incidence of cancer in the Malwa belt, even as the cancer cases in the state are only a little more than the national average. The survey has also reported average cancer prevalence of 216 cases per lakh population and suspected cancer cases of 319 per lakh population. If these two figures are taken into account, it seems a large number of cancer cases have been going undetected till now and that cancer incidence figures in Punjab could be much more than have been reported even in this survey. This was confirmed by Secretary, Health Vini Mahajan.