Cancer cases rising, prices of essential drugs kept in check: Nadda

The government makes all efforts to ensure affordable and accessible treatment is available for cancer patients amid a rise in cases in India, Health Minister JP Nadda said on Friday. Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Nadda said the government made all efforts to ensure that affordable and accessible treatment was available to the patients. "The number of cancer cases is going up, it is increasing by almost 2.5 per cent every year," Nadda said. In men, cases of oral and lung cancer are on the up while more women are getting breast cancer, he added. More than 15.5 lakh cancer cases are being registered every year, Nadda said. "There is a list of 131 essential cancer medicines, which are in Schedule 1, (that) are monitored and (their) pricing is decided by the government. These are the commonly used medicines," Nadda said. He said patients cumulatively saved around Rs 294 crore due to this price control. "There are 28 combinations, which ar