Oral cancer trips candidates’ chance in army exams

In an alarming indicator of how fast oral cancer could be spreading, one out of every three candidates was rejected in the medical tests for recruitment into the army last month for visible symptoms of the disease.

Medical officers of Army’s Medical Test Board, who conducted the test of over 3,350 candidates, claimed they rejected around 1,000 for oral cancer symptoms. The 12-day recruitment tests held at Kanpur concluded on April 27. Only 600 out of over 7,000 candidates made the grade. “Majority of them appeared to be addicted to ‘gutkha’ and had oral diseases in their mouth,” said a doctor.

“Oral cancer is spreading fast and a simple four-finger test where opening of mouth to an extent where four fingers can get in easily can help in detecting oral sub mucous fibrosis, a kind of oral cancer,” said MP Mishra, director, JK Cancer Institute, Kanpur. Mishra said apart from four-finger test, presence of white spot (leukoplakia), red spots (erythroplakia) and brown spots (malinoplakia) are also indicators of oral cancer, a ground enough for rejection in army recruitment.

“Yes, around a thousand were rejected for mouth cancer symptoms with an advice that they should get themselves checked for early treatment,” said Colonel Deepak Sharma, director, Army Recruitment Board, Lucknow.

Out of 7,000 candidates, 3,350 had qualified for running test and of these only 600 were found fully fit for the recruitment. Around 700 were rejected for poor eyesight while 650 other suffered from hydrocele. Around 400 candidates suffered from physical disabilities like bone swelling, excessive sweating, deformed teeth, migraine, palpitation and flat-feet. A few candidates were rejected for getting tattoos on their bodies.