Cancer cases are escalating by 2.5 per cent each year, with over 1.55 million new diagnoses annually, the Government on Friday painted a troubling picture even as it asserted that all efforts are being taken to ensure affordable and accessible treatment for cancer patients.

Union  Health Minister JP Nadda said on Friday that men face rising rates of oral and lung cancers, while women are increasingly affected by breast cancer. This growing trend underscores a critical need for enhanced cancer prevention and treatment strategies, he said.

Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Nadda said the government made all efforts to ensure that affordable and accessible treatment was available to the patients.

“There is a list of 131 essential cancer medicines, which are in Schedule 1, (that) are monitored and (their) pricing is decided by the government. These are the commonly used medicines,” Nadda said. He said patients cumulatively saved around Rs 294 crore due to this price control.”There are 28 combinations, which are not in this list but the NPPA (National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) and the government have controlled their pricing as well,” he said.

“We have tried to make cancer drugs affordable,” he added.

Responding to another question on healthcare infrastructure, Nadda said the government was apprised of the matter and expansion of medical colleges were happening so that there could be more doctors.

“There should be a balance in quality and quantity of medical education. We are trying to go as fast as we can but, at the same time, (we) do not want to compromise on the quality of medical doctors,” he said. Nadda informed the House that the number of medical colleges had gone up from 387 in 2014 to 731 at present while the number of MBBS seats rose from 51,348 seats to 1,12,112 (1.12 lakh) during the same period.

The number of postgraduate seats for medical students has gone up from 31,185 in 2014 to 72,627 at present, he added.