Tumour Trouble in Paradise

A researcher describes how tumours and trauma now touch everyday life in Kashmir's hospitals and homes.

- Dr. Umer Majeed Khaja

I have spent years studying cancer in Kashmir through hospital records, laboratory work, and patient data. What I see every day confirms what research has warned for a long time. Cancer has spread across the valley, reshaping families, straining communities, and pushing the healthcare system to its limits.

Official data presented in Parliament indicate that Jammu and Kashmir recorded approximately 14,112 new cancer cases in 2024, while the cumulative burden between 2015 and 2024 reached nearly 1.45 lakh cases.

These statistics translate to more than 12,000 new diagnoses every year, or roughly 30 to 40 people learning they have cancer each day.

Hospitals and regional cancer registries confirm these trends, leaving no room to treat this issue as anecdotal or exaggerated.

Cancer in Kashmir shows clear patterns shaped by geography, diet, occupational exposure, and lifestyle.

Among men, stomach cancer emerges most frequently, followed by lung and oesophageal cancers.

Breast cancer dominates among women and increasingly affects younger populations, diverging from traditional patterns seen in previous decades.

Most diagnoses occur in individuals above 45 years of age, with a significant burden among those over 64, but the rising occurrence of colorectal and breast cancers in younger patients signals changes in biological and environmental factors.