Why Is Kashmir Seeing A Surge In Cancer Cases? Experts Weigh In

Observer, the total number of cancer patients registered at the largest tertiary care hospital in the valley, SKIMS, Soura this year so far stands at 850. Data further suggests that the cancers mostly prevalent in the valley include lung, breast, ovarian, Gastro-Intestinal, and Leukemia.

However, a senior official at SKIMS said that often many patients register at both SKIMS and GMC, Srinagar leading to duplication in records. Additionally, a few radiotherapy machines at SKIMS are nonfunctional, so many patients are being referred to GMC for radiotherapy. “As a result, the patient numbers at GMC may appear higher due to this referral pattern,” he said.

What exactly is causing a spike in cancers? Is there something we’re eating, something we’re ingesting, some combination of factors that are modern and harmful— which is resulting in these increased cancers? For instance, a few weeks ago, a father of two kids in his early 40’s was struck with disbelief when he was diagnosed with colon cancer. “He thought for months together that his rectal bleeding was caused by hemorrhoids (Piles). By the time he came to us, the disease had already reached an advanced stage,” the oncologist treating him at Government Medical College, Srinagar said.

Dr. Abdul Hamid Samoon, Associate Professor, Department of Minimal Access and General Surgery, GMC Srinagar told Kashmir Observer that the trend of malignancies is rising worldwide, and a similar pattern is witnessed in Kashmir. Cancer happens when the body's cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body where these cells can form tumours or invade nearby tissues and organs, leading to