Srinagar, Oct 11: Even as cancer cases surge at an alarming rate across Kashmir, the entire Kashmir Valley continues to depend on a single PET-CT scan machine — at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura — for diagnosis, staging, and monitoring of the disease.
This critical shortage has pushed thousands of patients into agonizing delays, forcing many to travel outside the Valley at crippling financial and emotional costs.
Official figures paint a grim picture. Over 51,500 new cancer cases were reported in Jammu & Kashmir between 2019 and 2022, and more than 35,600 people succumbed to the disease in the same period. SKIMS alone has documented around 50,000 cancer cases since 2013, while GMC Srinagar has registered over 8,000 since 2017 — yet it still lacks a PET-CT machine.
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“The entire Valley depends on one PET-CT machine at SKIMS, catering to thousands of patients. Waiting lists stretch for weeks — time that cancer patients simply don’t have,” said Dr. Manzoor, an oncologist.
Experts warn that delayed diagnosis and treatment are worsening survival rates.
“PET-CT technology is indispensable in modern oncology,” said Dr. Aijaz. “It helps detect cancer early, plan treatment, and monitor response. More machines could save countless lives.”
A 2012 SKIMS study had already sounded alarm bells, linking Kashmir’s dietary habits and excessive salt consumption to the growing prevalence of stomach and oesophageal cancers.
Patients, however, continue to bear the brunt of the system’s slow pace.
“I waited over a month for my PET scan at SKIMS,” said Ghulam Nabi, a cancer patient from Pulwama. “By then, my condition had worsened. Every delay feels like a death sentence.”
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Officials say the process to install a PET-CT machine at SMHS Hospital, Srinagar has been initiated and is expected to be operational “soon.”
Health Minister Sakeena Itoo recently announced a Rs 124.83 crore healthcare upgrade for J&K, which includes a PET-CT at GMC Srinagar, MRI machines for GMCs Baramulla, Kathua, and Rajouri, and a Cath Lab at GMC Doda.
For now, though, the harsh reality remains — an entire region battling cancer with just one functional PET-CT machine. (KNO)
