Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women in India, Dr Kalvakuntla Sanjay, BRS MLA from Korutla constituency in Telangana, said as he made a strong case for making free vaccination and screening mandatory in the state.
Sanjay, who was speaking in the recently concluded Budget Session of the Telangana Assembly, referred to data which showed that mortality rate for cervical cancer had increased from 948 in 2014 to 1,202 in 2023.
Talking to News18, he said Telangana already has the infrastructure needed to carry out such programmes.
“We have the largest number of doctors and a hospital in every district in Telangana. Besides the primary, secondary and tertiary centres of health, we have quaternary centres and ‘basthi dawakhanas’. The two most effective ways of bringing down the incidence of cervical cancer are vaccination and screening. We already have a vaccine which is 95-99 per cent effective. It can be given to girls and women between the ages of 9 and 26 years. The vaccine is administered before a woman has sexual intercourse. For the women older than this age range, screenings can be done through a simple pap smear test,” the spine surgeon said.
Highlighting the poor rate of cancer screening in India, the doctor added: “ICMR data says that only 1-2 per cent of Indian population is covered under the screening programme for oral, cervical and breast cancers etc. Due to delay in screening, more than two-thirds of patients get diagnosed only at the later stages. The percentage of cases of cervical cancer that are detected before symptoms are reported is only one per cent in India. In contrast, this figure is 73 per cent in the US, 70 per cent in the UK, and 43 per cent in China.”
The MLA said: “While the incidence of cancer in India is lower than that of the US and Europe, the number of deaths is much higher due to lack of screening. If we start screening from now, we can bring down cancer in the next generations.”
Highlighting the work done by the previous government in Telangana, the doctor said: “In the last 10 years, we saw revolutionary changes in healthcare in Telangana. We have the highest number of medical students per lakh population and the highest number of PG seats per lakh of population. After the Covid-19 pandemic, every bed in Telangana has oxygen supply. Since we have the infrastructure now, we should start the vaccination and screening processes immediately. After the age of 35, every woman should go for pap smear tests. Every district now has a Telangana Diagnostic Hub where all diagnostic tests are done free of cost.”
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