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The Supreme Court on Friday (December 12, 2025) sought a response from the Centre on a plea filed by a retired AIIMS oncologist to declare cancer a nationwide notifiable disease.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notices to the Union Health Ministry, State governments and Union Territories on the petition filed by Dr. Anurag Shrivastava, represented by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal. The plea highlighted that 90% of India’s population was currently not covered in any systematic cancer surveillance mechanism.
Mr. Bansal submitted that only 17 out of 36 States and Union Territories had taken measures to declare cancer a notifiable disease under their public health laws.
“This inconsistency has created a dangerous patchwork system, leaving a vast majority of the country’s population without the benefits of mandatory cancer case reporting, which is the cornerstone of effective disease surveillance, early detection and centralised data-driven policy making,” the counsel argued.
The petition said the non-notification has created a severe data black hole. “Without mandatory reporting, India’s National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) operates with chronic and severe under-reporting,” it said.
It underscored that systematic cancer data compilation covers only about 10% of the population.
“Approximately 90% of India’s population remains outside the coverage of any systematic cancer data compilation and, by extension, the benefits of a cohesive national cancer control programme. This data deficit results in a gross underestimation of the national cancer burden, leading to inaccurate policy planning, misallocation of scarce resources, and an inability to effectively implement, monitor, and evaluate life-saving screening and early detection programs,” the petitioner argued.
Compounding the crisis was the rampant spread of dangerous misinformation. The petition referred to the promotion of ‘remedies’ such as cow urine as a cancer cure in this context.
English (US) ·