Hyderabad, April 7 – The government of Telangana has declared cancer a notifiable disease, making it mandatory for all government and private hospitals to report all cases of cancer.
The Department of Health, Medical and Family Welfare issued a Government Order in this regard on Tuesday, providing a mandatory reporting mechanism for all diagnosed cancer cases in the state to ensure the availability of reliable and timely data for public health action.
According to the order, all cases of cancer, including in situ and invasive cancers, diagnosed or registered at any healthcare facility, laboratories, or the Registrar of Births and Deaths in the state must be reported within one month of such diagnosis or registration, through the portal in the prescribed format.
The objective of making cancer a notifiable disease is to create a robust surveillance system for cancer in the state, which estimates cancer incidence, prevalence, and mortality, augments preventive screening and early detection measures, assists in planning for diagnostic and treatment facilities, palliative and rehabilitative care services, and the formulation, monitoring, and research of evidence-based policies.
A uniform Cancer Registry for the state will serve as a centralized platform for estimating cancer incidence and prevalence, as stated in the order.
The District Medical and Health Officer shall ensure that all hospitals, institutions, bodies, and laboratories (both government and private) under his or her jurisdiction report all diagnosed cases of cancer in their facility.
To facilitate this, each facility shall maintain a designated cancer register in the prescribed proforma, to record both existing and new cases from the date of this notification.
The Director of Public Health and Family Welfare shall monitor the timely submission and quality of such information submitted.
All hospitals empanelled under the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Scheme will be automatically registered and provided with login credentials to submit cancer case details through the state online portal.
All other hospitals, institutions, bodies, and laboratories should register online to obtain login credentials to submit cancer case details through the state online portal.
The Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre, Hyderabad will function as a Centre of Excellence for cancer care in Telangana and will be responsible for the periodical scrutiny and validation of individual cancer case information submitted, to ensure that reliable data is available to the state.
The order noted that the burden of non-communicable diseases is steadily increasing and has become a major public health concern.
Cancer has emerged as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, underscoring the need for a systematic and institutional mechanism to capture reliable and timely information on the disease burden in the state.
Accurate and comprehensive data on cancer incidence, prevalence, distribution, and types are essential for assessing the magnitude and pattern of the disease in the state, identifying risk factors, geographical and demographic variations, and for developing an effective screening strategy, as stated in the order.
Cancer registration will provide information on diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, rehabilitative services, and long-term follow-up.
Targeted policies and evaluation of interventions undertaken will facilitate effective resource management.
Currently, only institution-level registries are maintained at the Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad and the Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre, Hyderabad, under the state government.
This notification applies to all government (including autonomous), private, and cooperative hospitals, including medical college hospitals, the Employees’ State Insurance, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, railways, industry, military hospitals, and any other private clinics, nursing homes, and hospices providing cancer treatment or care; AYUSH hospitals providing cancer care; Non-Governmental Organisations; Insurance Companies (government or private); Pathology and Radiology imaging laboratories; the Vital Statistics Department or Registrar of Births and Deaths; and any other government or private sector scheme or programme collecting data on cancer cases.
