Cancer patients receiving  government financial aid significantly rises in recent years

KATHMANDU: The figure of cancer patients has almost doubled in the past five years, the data suggests.

According to the Nursing and Social Security Division under the Department of Health Service, the number of cancer patients receiving government financial aid has significantly increased in the recent years.

Division Director, Hiradevi Niraula, shared with the RSS that the number of patients receiving financial relief for cancer treatment has doubled in five years.

As she said, According to her, their number was 15,187 in the fiscal year 2077/78 (2020-21), while the number jumped to 28,678 in the fiscal year 2081/82 (2024-25).

Similarly, during the fiscal year 2078-79 BS ( 2021-22), the number of such beneficiaries was 19,313 followed by 16,696 and 22,153 in the subsequent two years, respectively. The Division provides cancer patients with monetary relief up to Rs 100,000 each from the Impoverished Citizen Medical Treatment Fund.

Besides this, the province government also ensures additional assistance of up to Rs 100,000 for the treatment of cancer.

Lung, cervical, breast, stomach and intestinal are among the most frequently  reported cancer cases in Nepal.

Dr Arun Shahi, an oncologist at the Patan Institute of Health Sciences, said that the main causes of cancer include excessive alcohol and tobacco consumption, diet, lifestyle, rest, radiation exposure, bacterial infections, and hereditary factors.