Cancer diagnoses increase in RI

KUTA, Bali: Poverty and an unawareness of the need for early detection are the two main obstacles to the government's campaign against cancer, an expert said recently at an international conference of the Asian Clinical Oncology Society.

"Most people have yet to realize that dietary patterns and certain habits may contribute to a susceptibility to cancer," Azrul Azwar, the director general of public health, said last week.

He said smokers had a greater likelihood of developing lung cancer. "Once you get cancer, it's going to be difficult to be cured, and it's a costly exercise, especially in Indonesia where the social security system has not been strongly applied," Azrul said.

The Ministry of Health has been subsidizing the cost of cancer treatment through a program called the community-based care system, popularly abbreviated as JPKM, Azrul said.

"We are also promoting healthy living as well as the need for early detection."

He said several courses on early detection had been performed for paramedics located in remote areas of the country.

Cancer has become the sixth leading killer here. The high rate has been attributed to a change in diet and increased industrialization, pathologist A.N. Kurniawan said.

Kurniawan was quoting official data that in 1993 there were 21,809 patients suffering from various forms of cancer.

"This was just data on patients who have undergone a biopsy. The actual figure would be far larger than this."

He said ovarian cancer topped the list, followed by breast, lymph and skin cancers.

"Lung cancer also has significantly increased in the past few years."

A decade ago cancer was ranked 12th in the list of diseases leading to fatalities in Indonesia.

In a speech at the conference, Minister of Health Farid Anfasa Moeleok said there were dilemmas in eradicating lung cancer.

"This is not easy. We're not just dealing with a community of smokers but also the economic impact if smoking is banned," Farid said.

Some 140,000 people are working in various cigarettes manufacturers across the country, Farid said. "And this involved the lives of thousands more of families and related industries." (50/edt)