The petition highlighted that systematic most cancers knowledge assortment covers solely about 10% of the inhabitants. |Photograph courtesy: Getty Photographs/iStockphoto
The Supreme Court docket on Friday (December 12, 2025) requested the Middle to answer a petition filed by a retired AIIMS oncologist to declare most cancers a nationally notifiable illness.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notices to the Union well being ministry, state governments and union territories on the petition filed by Dr. Anurag Shrivastava, represented by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal. The petition highlighted that 90% of India’s inhabitants is at present not lined by any systematic most cancers surveillance mechanism.
Mr. Bansal submitted that out of the 36 States and Union Territories, solely 17 have taken steps to declare most cancers as a notifiable illness beneath the Public Well being Act.
“This contradiction has created a harmful patchwork system that leaves massive swaths of the nation’s inhabitants with out the good thing about most cancers case reporting necessities, that are the cornerstone of efficient illness surveillance, early detection, and centralized, data-driven policymaking,” the legal professionals argued.
The petition states that the shortage of notification created a critical knowledge black gap. “With out necessary reporting, India’s Nationwide Most cancers Registry Program (NCRP) would function with persistent and extreme underreporting,” the report mentioned.
He emphasised that systematic most cancers knowledge assortment covers solely about 10% of the inhabitants.
“Roughly 90% of India’s inhabitants stays excluded from systematic most cancers knowledge assortment and thus the good thing about a coherent nationwide most cancers management program. This lack of knowledge leads to a big underestimation of the nation’s most cancers burden, results in inaccurate coverage planning, misallocation of scarce assets, and an lack of ability to successfully implement, monitor and consider life-saving screening and early detection applications,” the petitioners argued.
Compounding the disaster was the proliferation of harmful misinformation. On this context, the petition refers back to the promotion of “cures” reminiscent of cow urine as a remedy for most cancers.
