by Dr Kua Voon Fong

Can the statistics presented be true? Discuss the NCR report at http://forum.radiologymalaysia.org

The Launching of the National Cancer Registry (NCR) was held at the Grand Seasons Hotel on the 4th of July 2003. It was a grand event which was officiated by the Honourable Minister of Health, Dato’ Chua Jui Meng, Director-General of Health Malaysia, Tan Sri Datu Dr. Haji Mohamad Taha Arif and Deputy Director-General of Health, Dato’ Dr. Mohd Ismail Merican. The ‘rebana’ musical team filled the air with traditional music on entrance to the grand ballroom. The hall was packed and the invited Press was awaiting the arrival of the Minister of Health. There was much discussion about the first report of the National Cancer Registry.

After the arrival of the Minister, a short welcome speech was given by the Chairman of the NCR, Dr. Gerard Lim Chin Chye. This was followed by a speech by Tan Sri Datu Dr. Haji Mohamad Taha Arif who expressed his appreciation of having the registry which has implications for programmes and policies concerning health in this country. He was impressed by the effort the National Cancer Registry had taken to achieve a high quality data collection, processing, interpretation, quality control and evaluation as well as being transparent in stating the limitations, thus allowing the end-users to judge for themselves the credibility of the data. He added that it was encouraging to know that the NCR had completed its first report within a year as it was a difficult and complex undertaking.

The Minister of Health, Dato’ Chua Jui Meng highlighted the NCR report that one in four Malaysians can be expected to suffer from cancer in his or her lifetime. He described that the trend was alarming and had instructed that a memorandum be submitted to the cabinet regarding the findings and strategies to combat the disease. He hoped that the Cabinet will support steps for the improvement of facilities for comprehensive cancer care and to preserve skilled manpower, especially within in the government sector. He pointed out that while the first objective of the NCR report to determine the cancer burden in Malaysia had been achieved, there was the need to address other issues such as identification of subgroups in the population at high risk of cancer, evaluation of cancer programmes, and facilitation of research on cancer.

The highlight of the event was the launching of the National Cancer Registry Report in the presence of patients who have been cured from cancer. An 11 year old girl who had recovered from acute myeloid leukemia had the honour of presenting the National Cancer Registry Report to the Minister of Health.

The report showed that breast cancer was the most common cancer in females while lung cancer was the most common among men. Chinese had the highest risk of getting cancer, followed by the Indians and Malays, the risk being 1 in 4, 1 in 5 and 1 in 7 respectively. The report also found the Malaysian men were most likely to get cancers of the lung, nasopharyx, colon, leukemia, rectum and prostate while women would be vulnerable to cancers of the breast, cervix, colon, ovary, leukemia and lung.

All in all, this was an event worth waiting for and more importantly, a report that is very significant to the country.

The full NCR report 2002 and statistics are available at: www.crc.gov.my/ncr

Can the statistics presented be true? Discuss the NCR report at http://forum.radiologymalaysia.org