Govts should bear cancer treatment cost for poor: Uttarakhand governor

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Governor Aziz Qureshi has said governments should bear the expenses for treatment of poor affected by the dreaded disease. Qureshi was speaking at a conference on defeating cancer at Raj Bhawan auditorium here yesterday.

"In case of poor people suffering from the disease, governments concerned should come forward to bear the entire expense of their expensive treatment," he said.

Suggesting that a law should be enacted in Parliament in this regard, he said committees can be formed at the panchayat and municipal level to conduct regular surveys and detect cancer cases in time so they could be treated soon.

Speaking at the conference, Chief Minister Harish Rawat said a proposal should be made to impose cess on tobacco products, whose consumption is one of the main causes of cancer. He also advocated setting up cancer detection centres in all districts and launching awareness campaigns aimed to inspire people to overcome fear of cancer as 80 to 90 per cent of cases are curable if detected on time.

The Chief Minister asked the Vice Chancellor of HNB Medical Education University M C Pant to prepare a roadmap for such a campaign. Making a detailed presentation on curability of cancer if treated in time, Pant said that two thirds of cancer cases can be cured but due to the lack of awareness, people reach doctors late, minimising chances of cure.

PTI