Although cancer has become like an epidemic with a steep rise in its incidence, the cancer medicines are very expensive and beyond the reach of common man. Therefore, government should bring price control on all cancer drugs to make them affordable to people, said Dr K K Aggarwal, president of Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI).

The government should also take adequate steps to ensure early diagnosis of cancer because it is a proven fact that early diagnosis can save many lives, said Dr Aggarwal who is also immediate past national president, Indian Medical Association (IMA).

“Cancer treatment can get more expensive if it is diagnosed late, or if the diagnosis and treatment are not right," he said.

There are scores of people grappling with the exorbitant costs of cancer care in India, where the disease has taken away entire life savings and even forced some people to sell their assets. Though the cancer treatment in India is cheaper than West, it is still unaffordable for poor and middle class who do not have health insurance.

The minimum cost of six months of treatment ranges from Rs.2.5 lakh with low priced generic drugs to Rs.20 lakh with novel drugs and targeted medicines. For instance some breast cancer patients need targeted treatment drugs, such as Herceptin produced by MNC Roche costing around Rs.75,000 for a course; a patient could need up to 17 courses. Similarly, Avastin which treats colon, kidney, lung and gall bladder cancers costs Rs.1 lakh a cycle. Though companies have patient support programmes, most patients end up paying 70 to 80 per cent of the medicine prices.

There are about 2.5 million people living with cancer in India and over 7 lakh new cases get registered every year. Of all the various types of cancers, those with oral cavity and lung cancers in males and cervix and breast cancers in females account for about 50% of all related deaths in the country.

The prevalence of cancer in the country is not uniform all over. There is a difference in the types of cancers that affect people in rural and urban settings. Among rural women, cervical cancer is the most widespread while in urban women, breast cancer is the most rampant. In case of men, rural people are majorly affected by cancers of the oral cavity while rural men are greatly inflicted by cancer of the lung.

Although the exact cause of cancer is not known, research indicates that certain risk factors may increase a person’s chances of developing cancer. These include things people cannot control, like age and family history. Lifestyle choices that increase your chances of contracting breast cancer are the usual suspects such as smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and poor diet.