22% increase in school children diagnosed with the disease this year as against the previous year.
Annual health check-up in schools across the state is proving to be a boon and an eye-opener as 7,562 students have been diagnosed with serious ailments related to heart, kidney and cancer.
These children have been referred to the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre and Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute for further treatment.
At this programme, which covers all government and grant-in-aid schools across the state, the doctors checked more than 14.88 lakh children. And, the data received from the school health programme of 2012-13 shows that there is a 22 per cent rise in the number of children diagnosed with cancer co pared to the previous year — 2011-12.
The data also revealed that there is a nine per cent increase in children diagnosed with heart-related ailments and a five per cent decrease in kidney ailments. As many as 4,244 students in the state were diagnosed with heart ailments in 2011-12, which has now gone up to 4,640. Similarly, the number of children diagnosed with cancer increased from 1,326 to 1,624.
“We cannot ascertain the trend for increase in the number of children diagnosed with cancer and the government cannot be blamed for such diseases at an early age. In fact, this programme is proving to be a boon for children diagnosed with such serious ailments. Being diagnosed at an early age increases the chances of cure and a disease-free future. Besides, the government also provides treatment free of cost to all these children,” said an education department official.
Commenting on the 22% growth in number of children diagnosed with cancer, Parimal Jivarajani, community oncology expert at GCRI, said: “It is a normal trend and there’s nothing shocking about the numbers. The reason behind the increased number is because cancer awareness has spread across the state.
Children in remote villages are also covered by this programme. So, detection has increased. The treatment’s expenses are being borne by state government which is good. Else, the treatment of cancer is quite expensive.”
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