Telangana govt makes it mandatory to register, report all cancer cases

According to the government order, cancer registration will provide information on diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, rehabilitative services and long-term follow-up.

Hyderabad: Recognising cancer as a “notifiable disease” throughout the state, the Telangana government has now mandated that all cancer cases diagnosed or registered at any healthcare facility or lab be reported within one month through a prescribed portal.

Dr Christina Z Chongthu, Principal Secretary of the Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department, has issued a government order (GO) to that effect on Monday, April 6.

Who will be required to report cancer cases?

The order applies to all government, private and cooperative hospitals (including medical colleges, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Employees’ State Insurance (ESI), railways and military hospitals), private clinics, nursing homes and hospices, AYUSH hospitals, NGOs and insurance companies, pathology and radiology labs, registrar of births and deaths, and any other entity collecting cancer data.

Currently, only institution-level registries were being maintained at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) and the Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre (MNJIORCC) in Hyderabad.

Reporting mechanism

District Medical and Health Officers (DMHO) would have to ensure that all facilities report cancer cases (including in situ and invasive) and maintain a cancer register. Hospitals under the Rajiv Aarogyasri Scheme will be auto-registered for online reporting of cancer cases. Other institutions would be required to register online to obtain the login credentials.

MNJIORCC, Hyderabad, will act as the Centre of Excellence to validate and scrutinise the reported data, which would be submitted to the National Cancer Registry of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

All the collected data will be strictly confidential, used only for the public health purposes and securely stored and transmitted.

Rationale behind the effort

The objective of the initiative is to create a robust cancer surveillance system, to estimate incidence, prevalence and mortality, enhance screening and early detection, support planning of diagnostic and treatment facilities, strengthen palliative and rehabilitative care and enable evidence-based policy formulation, monitoring and research.

The rationale being provided is that an accurate and comprehensive data on cancer incidence and prevalence, distribution and types are essential for assessing the magnitude and pattern of the disease in the state. Identifying the risk factors, geographical/demographic variations and for evolving an effective screening strategy will be pursued.

“Cancer registration will provide information on diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, rehabilitative services and long-term follow-up. Targeted policies and evaluation of interventions undertaken will enable effective resource management,” the government order reads.

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