'Cancer to become common cause of death by 2020'

According to a survey cancer is likely to be the most common cause of deaths in the world by 2020, and about 0.2 million people become victim of cancer in Pakistan every year. This was the crux of the seminar organised on World Cancer Day by Shifa International Hospital (SIH) here on Saturday.
The participants included Member Science and Technology, Planning Commission of Pakistan and former chairman National Engineering & Scientific Commission (Nescom) Dr Sammar Mubarakmand, Consultant Medical Oncologist SIH Dr Kamran Rasheed, Consultant Radiation Oncologist SIH Dr Muhammad Ali Afridi, Consultant Surgeon Dr Badar-us-Salam and Consultant Medical Specialist Dr Mutti-ur-Rehman. The participants informed that cancer was rapidly spreading in developing countries like Pakistan, and added that cancer would become a common cause of death by 2020.
They said, "Only five percent cancers breads due to the hereditary problems which means that if your father or your grand father is having cancer, you may become a victim of the disease." The participants were of the view that cancer was one of the major health care problems in Pakistan. In the absence of a national population-based cancer registry, the precise incidence, mortality rates, number of new cancer cases and number of deaths annually in Pakistan are not known. Cost of cancer chemotherapy depends on a lot of factors.
Dr Sammar Mubarakmand said that smoking was leading cause of cancer in countries like Pakistan. He urged the masses to quit smoking and tobacco use in any form to prevent spread of cancer. "Cancer is more than 90 percent curable disease if it is diagnosed in time", Dr Sammar said.
Dr Kamran Rasheed said, "41.21 percent of men and women born today will be diagnosed of cancer at some time of their life. The median age at diagnosis for cancer of all sites is 66 years of age." He said cancer could be treated through various methods including surgery, radiation treatment, chemotherapy, targeted therapies and bone marrow transplant. But prevention is better than cure, he emphasised. According to an estimate, at least 90,000 women suffer from breast cancer in Pakistan every year. To avoid cancer, every one should take proper exercise, avoid sunlight exposure and the coloured drinks and should opt to the proper eating habits.
Dr Afridi said more than 10 million people in the world became victim of this disease every year, while people over 30 years of age were more vulnerable to this disease. "It is estimated that around 0.2 million people become cancer patient in Pakistan every year. Thickening or lump in the body particularly in breast among women, an injury that is not healing, unusual bleeding or discharge, indigestion or trouble swallowing, irritating cough and hoarseness, weight loss, hunger loss and fever are some of the symptoms of cancer and one must go for cancer tests and biopsy with the suggestion of cancer expert if he or she feels development of any of such symptoms," he said.