Cancer on rise in Pakistan, Afghanistan

PESHAWAR-The Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (IRNUM) has said the number of cancer patients in Pakistan and Afghanistan surged last year compared to 2010.

“The number of patients have gone to 5,461 in 2011, up from 4,877 in 2010, including 3,233 or 59 per cent from KP, 685 or 12.5 per cent from Federally Administered Tribal Area and 1,534 or 28 per cent from Afghanistan,” IRNUM's senior medical officer Dr Rauf Khattak told a seminar held February 6 to mark World Cancer Day. February 4.

Pakistan has about 200,000 new cancer diagnoses yearly, Dr. Samar Mubarakmand said February 4 during a World Cancer Day event in Islamabad, according to Pakistan’s The Nation.