market research agencies in mumbai
02 Nov 2022

Oncology segment – MedTech & HealthTech play to improve outcome

oncology-segment-medtech-healthtech-play-to-improve-outcome

At ~6%, cancer is the 3rd biggest cause of mortality in India after cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The total number of new cancer cases annually in India is expected to rise from ~1.3 million to reach ~1.5 million by 2025, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of ~2% from 2020 to 2025. Our report highlights the current status of top cancers in men and women. It also sheds light on the main barriers related to screening, diagnosis, and treatment stages and how MedTech and HealthTech companies can help improve outcomes by making the technologies more accessible and affordable
Below is an insightful excerpt from our report.

There is still limited access to screening and diagnosis of cancer, with almost 90% of comprehensive cancer treatment centers in major cities, while ~70% of the population is in rural areas. Although the cancer incidence rate per million population is relatively smaller compared to the developed countries like USA & UK, it might just be the tip of the iceberg with limited access to diagnosis and treatment for the majority of the population.  Very recently a parliamentary panel has recommended Cancer to be a notified disease, to record the cancer incidence rate and death rate more accurately through the creation of a CoWin-like portal. The major finding of this parliamentary panel was that only 10% of the Indian population was covered in the Population-Based Cancer Registry program (PBCR) and Hospital-Based Cancer Registry

The other major issue - limited access to screening and detection of cancer - is primarily because of the low penetration of diagnostic imaging equipment like CT, MRI, Mammography, PET CT, etc. There is also resistance amongst the general population to voluntarily opt for cancer screening tests. Currently, molecular diagnostics-based genetic risk assessment tests are very expensive and beyond the reach of most people.
The Government of India launched a major initiative of establishing 1.5 lac health and wellness centers in 2018, with about 1.1 lacs centers already in operation by March 2022, where there is a program to screen for the most common cancers of the breast, cervical and oral. Hopefully, this program will help in enhancing the access to basic screening for these 3 cancers.