Cancer cases on the rise in Northeast; Assam tops the list

Assam detected 2,45,586 new cancer cases in the past five years

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: New cases of cancer have been on the rise in Assam and other states in the Northeast every year. Assam alone detected 2,45,586 new cancer cases in the past five years. Assam tops the states in the Northeast on cancer prevalence.

According to information available with The Sentinel, the calendar-year-wise breakup of new cancer cases in Assam is 45,365 in 2021; 47,392 in 2022; 49,349 in 2023; 51,553 in 2024; and 52,027 in 2025. The statistics clearly indicate that the number of cancer cases in the state is consistently increasing each year.

This is the same trend in the other seven states of the Northeast. The numbers of new cancer cases detected in the past five years are: 2,926 in Sikkim; 3,342 in Arunachal Pradesh; 11,367 in Nagaland; 11,095 in Manipur; 9,974 in Mizoram; 16,944 in Tripura; and 14,989 in Meghalaya. Sikkim has the lowest number of detected cancer cases in the past five years in the Northeast.

As many as 15,77,278 new cancer cases have been detected in the country in 2025 compared to 15,62,099 in 2024. The country, as a whole, maintained a rising trend in the number of detected cancer cases in the past five years.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is conducting research on cancer through its institutes, various projects and cancer consortium. ICMR is funding research in areas of gallbladder cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, and cancers in Northeast through its centrally sponsored research projects.

The Department of Health and Family Welfare provides technical and financial support to states and union territories across the country under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) as part of the National Health Mission (NHM). The programme focuses on strengthening infrastructure, human resource development, screening, early diagnosis, referral, treatment, and health promotion for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Under NP-NCD, 770 district NCD clinics, 364 district day care cancer centres (DCCCs) and 6,410 NCD clinics at Community Health Centres have been set up across the country. As per the announcement of the Union Budget 2025-26, for the financial year 2025-26, 297 DCCCs have been approved for establishment across the country to strengthen decentralized cancer care by aligning infrastructure development with patient needs.

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