Cancer patients doubled in the last decade

The number of cancer patients in the country has doubled in the last decade, according to a report of National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH).

The report, launched yesterday, said last year 18,556 new patients visited its Out Patient Department. Of them, 11,108 (59.9 percent) had either confirmed or provisional diagnosis of some kind of cancer. Most of the patients were diagnosed with cancers of the respiratory tract -- 2,436 --, including 1,983 lung cancer patients, said the report. 

Dr Habibullah Talukdar, head of the cancer epidemiology department at NICRH, said the number of patients treated at the hospital was about 5,000 in 2005. "Smoking is the biggest reason behind lung cancer while other reasons include tobacco chewing and air pollution," he told The Daily Star. He said NICRH is the only tertiary-level institute for cancer patients in Bangladesh. Talukdar said the death rate of cancer patients at the hospital was only 2.2 percent.

According to the report, average age of cancer patient was 50 years and majority of them were male. About 67.9 percent male patients have smokes at one point in their life and 42 percent were current smokers. Of the female patients, only 3.1 percent were smokers, but about 30 percent had the habit of chewing tobacco.

A PDF version of the report is available on the website of the Directorate General of Health Services.