New Delhi : In 2024, India witnessed a surge in cancer cases, with over 15 lakh people diagnosed with the deadly disease, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, on Friday.

In a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha, Jadhav detailed the rising cases of cancer in the country.

“The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has informed that as per the National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP) Data, the estimated incidence of cancer cases in the country for 2024 is 15,33,055,” Jadhav said.

The incidence of cancer is rising steadily in the country – from 13.5 lakh in 2019 to 15.3 lakh in 2024. In 2020, 13.9 lakh cases were diagnosed. The cases spiked to 14.2 lakh in 2021, to 14.6 lakh in 2022, and 14.9 lakh in 2023, the Minister said.

He further noted that “8.2 lakh patients are estimated to have died of cancer in 2023 — the highest since 2019”.

In 2019, 7.5 lakh patients succumbed to the disease, and 7.7 lakh, 7.8 lakh, and more than 8 lakh died, respectively, in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

“The reasons for the increase in the number of estimated cancer cases are due to access and availability of improved diagnostic techniques for the detection of cancer, increased life expectancy, growing share of geriatric population, higher health consciousness, and improved health-seeking behaviour,” Jadhav said.

In addition, “there has been a significant increase in the classical risk factors associated with Communicable Disease (NCDs), including cancer such as tobacco and alcohol consumption, insufficient physical activities, unhealthy diets, consumption of high salt, sugar and saturated fats, etc,” the Minister explained.

To counter this, the government has undertaken the National Programme for Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD).

The main aim of the programme is prevention and control of common NCD risk factors through an integrated approach and reduction of premature morbidity and mortality from cancer and other NCDs.

“The focus of this programme is on health promotion, early diagnosis, management, and referral of cases, besides strengthening the infrastructure and capacity building. The capacity building is provided at various levels of health care for prevention, early diagnosis, cost-effective treatment, rehabilitation, awareness, and behaviour change communication,” Jadhav said.