A Turkey-based cancer specialist, Dr Sefik Hosal on Sunday said cancer has assumed an alarming proportion across the world.

“Efforts must be made to check it, particularly in developing countries like India,” he said. “Though tobacco has proved to be a major factor causing cancer among people in India, consumption of liquor with cigarette increases the risk of cancer six times more.”

Delivering a keynote address on the concluding day of the International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer organised under the aegis of Mahavir Cancer Sansthan (MCS) here, Dr Hosal said the government must come forward to check the growing menace of cancer in India. Keeping in mind the population of the country, the government should evolve a firm policy to tackle the problem. It could be checked to some extent by creating proper awareness about the disease among people, he said adding the medical facility in Turkey has been much advanced these days as far as the treatment of cancer goes.

According to Dr Hosal, the Turkey government has been taking proper care of people under the compulsory medical facility scheme. He admitted that cancer treatment must be provided at cheap and affordable cost to poor patients.

MCS director Dr J K Singh said the hospital would soon have a separate new department of neck and head oncology. The new building would be constructed on the MCS campus at a cost of Rs 8 crore to provide better medical facilities to head and neck cancer patients, he said adding about 42 per cent of the cancer patients in Bihar were suffering from head and neck cancer.

Dr Singh, however, stressed the need for developing “community oncology” to check cancer.

Dr Ravi Deo, Dr Alok Takkar, Dr Sunil Saini, Dr Vikram Sandhvi, Dr P M Parikh, Dr S S Nayyar and Dr Priti Jain were among the other leading specialists who addressed the conference.

Via Times of India