City based cancer hospital, Meherbai Tata Memorial Hospital (MTMH) has registered an annual increase of almost 10 per cent cancer related cases and alarmingly 15 per cent increase in new cases related to oral cancer which includes lips and oral cavity, Pharynh, larynh, Sinuses and Salybary Gland.
Officials the hospital said that the rise in oral cases is mainly due to consumption of different kinds of tobaccos, alcohol and neglect of oral and dental hygiene. With dietary control and check in the chewing habits of different tobaccos and alcohol oral cancer can be avoided and timely prevented.
“Nearly 22,000 patients report annually at the OPD of the MTMH situated in the Cobalt Unit of Tata Main Hospital while 7,000 are treated indoor. Almost 12,000 patients avail the facilities of CT Scan, MRI, ECG etc. at the Diagnostic Centre and 86,000 tests are done at the Pathological laboratory of MTMH,” said the official.
Rajnish Kumar, hony secretary, MTMH said that an unhealthy lifestyle is to be blamed as a primary reason for cases of cancer exponentially increasing in the city. Tobacco use, lack of physical activity, obesity, environmental pollutants and some infections such as hepatitis B or human papilloma virus can trigger cancer.
“Cancer is increasing mostly because of stressful and unhealthy lifestyle so much so that it is now called a lifestyle disease,” said, Kumar, who is also the secretary of Cancer Awareness Society.
Another doctor of MTMH noted that though the State Government banned gutka and paan masala, but still it is not difficult to get the tobacco products in the city. Feigning ignorance about the ban on sales and consumption of gutka and pan-masala in the State, betel shops in Jamshedpur are still selling these slow poisons in the city.
According to experts, tobacco use is responsible for causing malfunctioning of the urinary bladder system. Chewed tobacco consumption like gutka, and khaini cause oral cancer.