SANGSAD BHABAN, March 03, 2019 (BSS) – Health Minister Jahid Malek
today informed the Jatiya Sangsad that there are 1,50,781 cancer
patients in Bangladesh and the number is dropping gradually.
“The number of cancer patients in Bangladesh stands at 1, 50, 781,” the
minister said replying to a query of treasury bench member M Abdul
Latif during the question and answer session in the House with Deputy
Speaker Fazlee Rabbi Miah in the chair.
Referring to a report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer
–IARC-2018 (World Health Organization), the minister said of them ,
1,08,137 cancer-affected people have died .
Jahid Malek said although the number of cancer patients is increasing
due to tobacco, air pollution and unsafe food habit, the comparative
studies of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) ,2009 and GATS, 2017
says the cancer patients are decreasing due to less use of the tobacco
materials .
“The number of tobacco users has come down to 35.03 percent which
was 43.03 in GATS, 2009.