• SL has 33,000 new cancer patients

Breast cancer makes up the majority of cancer diagnoses as the country experiences over 33,000 new cancer cases.

“The majority of the detected cancers are breast cancer,” Government Medical Officers Union (GMOA) member, Dr. Prasad Colombage, told The Daily Morning in response to a query on the rising number of cancer patients.  “Breast cancer cases make up the majority of the new cases while other types of cancers, such as prostate cancer have low detection rates.”

These comments follow reports of over 33,000 new cancer patients in the country with 19,000 deaths reported within the last year, which the GMOA confirms to be true. It was reported that global cancer cases could rise by 77 percent by the year 2050 with the majority of cases being in lower- and middle-income countries. 

In Sri Lanka, breast, oral, lung and colorectal cancers are the leading causes of cancer deaths however several cancers go undetected. The Health Ministry confirmed to The Daily Morning that only 60 percent of women get screened for cervical cancer causing many cases to go undetected. The reasons for low screenings include inconvenient clinic operating times, lack of knowledge and cultural reasons such as reluctance to be examined by male doctors.

It was reported that the Ministry of Health advocated for early detection and treatment, stating that 95 percent of cancer cases are caused by environmental and lifestyle factors while only 5 to 10 percent are caused by genetic mutations.