Srinagar, January 21: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed Parra on Tuesday said that cancer has emerged as a far deadlier crisis in Jammu and Kashmir than decades of armed conflict, urging the government to treat it as a public health emergency requiring immediate intervention.
In a post on social media, Parra claimed that nearly 67,000 people have died due to cancer in the past five years, a figure he said is comparable to the total number of conflict-related deaths recorded over the last three decades in the region. “Cancer is killing 300 times more people than conflict in J&K,” the Pulwama MLA stated.
Highlighting the human and economic cost of the disease, Parra said thousands of families—especially those from economically weaker sections—are being forced to sell land and assets to seek treatment outside Jammu and Kashmir due to inadequate cancer care facilities within the region.
He described the situation as both a healthcare crisis and a failure of governance, saying the burden on hospitals and lack of specialised treatment infrastructure are pushing patients into financial ruin. “The biggest battles are often the ones we don’t see,” Parra remarked.
Tagging Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Parra appealed to the government to urgently strengthen oncology services, expand treatment facilities, and reduce patients’ dependence on hospitals outside the Union Territory to prevent avoidable deaths and long-term distress.
