KATHMANDU: Minister for Health and Population, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, has said proper food intake could help prevent one from cancer.

During the virtual address to a program organized on the occasion of the 21st BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital and 16th National Cancer Awareness Day today, Minister Dhakal, however, said massive public awareness is imperative on cancer.

“Many of us are suffering from cancer for not adopting good food habit and hygiene,” he said, suggesting the reduction of overweight, continuity to physical exercise, intake of vegetables and fruits and quit to the alcoholic drinks and tobacco.

According to him, one-third of the cancerous patients meet an untimely death, while one-third recover and the remaining one-third able to lessen the severity. So, prevention is better than cure, he stressed.

Moreover, the Minister informed that the government was committed to building a healthy Nepal and sought cooperation from all sides to this end.

He believed that the hospital named after the first people elected Prime Minister of Nepal, BP Koirala, was able to garner public trust and make an image for the prevention and treatment of cancer. The Minister took the opportunity to claim that the present government believes in action rather than an announcement.

It was informed at the program that 9.6 million people lose lives to cancer across the globe annually. Similarly, some 26,000 people die of cancer in Nepal every year. Among them, 70 percent of people are from a low-income family.

On the occasion, Executive Director of the Hospital, Dr. Dej Kumar Gautam, presented the annual progress report. The hospital was set up with the help of the Chinese government 21 years back.