SRINAGAR: Forget esophagus, breast and lung carcinoma have become the most common cancers in Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir is sitting on a cancer bomb, with more than 6000 new cancer cases reported every year. According to the Population-Based Cancer Registry, 50551 cases were reported in Kashmir and 13912 in Jammu between 2018 and 2024. The UT is witnessing a 2 -3 percent case increase annually.

Last year, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) registered 5,200 cases. Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu, GMC Anantnag, GMC Baramulla, and GMC Kathua recorded 1,700, 500, 100, and 80 cases, respectively.

What has set the tongues wagging is that breast and lung carcinoma have overtaken esophageal cancer in Kashmir.

“For many centuries, esophageal (food pipe) cancer was the

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