KARACHI: Over the last five years, Sindh has witnessed a devastating 25% surge in oral cancer cases, cementing its position as the province with the highest rate of this deadly disease in Pakistan. Particularly targeting the younger generation, this alarming spike has heavily impacted Karachi’s District South, alongside various coastal and suburban regions. Health experts directly blame this public health catastrophe on the widespread and unchecked consumption of hazardous chewable tobacco and stimulants, most notably gutka, mawa, mainpuri, chalia (areca nut), and paan.
Making matters worse, the province severely lacks specialized, dedicated cancer care facilities to handle the growing influx of patients. While radiation therapy is currently available at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) centers in Karachi, these existing facilities are heavily overwhelmed and entirely insufficient to meet the skyrocketing demand. Highlighting this critical infrastructure gap, Dr. Noor Muhammad Soomro, former Head of the Oncology Department at Civil Hospital, has urgently called for the establishment of a state-of-the-art, dedicated cancer hospital in Sindh to provide comprehensive, under-one-roof treatment.
The sheer scale of this epidemic is backed by sobering medical data. Between 2017 and 2021, the Karachi Cancer Registry recorded a staggering 65,886 oral cancer cases across Sindh, while the Dow Cancer Registry documented 22,858 cases of oral and lip cancer between 2010 and 2019. This lethal combination of widespread addiction and a massive gap in specialized healthcare infrastructure continues to cut young lives short, demanding immediate policy and medical intervention.
