varanasi in addition to observing the world cancer day february 4 for creating awareness on cancer and encourage its prevention detection and treatment there is also a need to introduce cancer in the school curriculum said the head of the department of radiotherapy and radiation medicine institute of medical science banaras hindu university prof sunil choudharythe mantra of prevention is better than cure can be earnestly encouraged by regular awareness programmes he said adding that catch them young by introducing one or two chapters on cancer in school curriculum may prove to be of immense benefitprof choudhary said that rising cancer incidence globally should be a matter of concern for every country and its government in near future at least one member in every family is likely to suffer from this noncommunicable yet fatal disease it brutally attacks the sufferers as well their family members and causes physical mental social and financial setbacks the western countries are able to handle this menace somewhat in a better fashion because of better health facilities and health insurance for all and wellplanned government prevention and screening programson this world cancer day we need to introspect and try to find out the pitfalls of our health system he said adding that screening of cancer in highrisk groups is known to result in early detection of cancer therefore the cancer screening programme should be made mandatory by the government one of the most important approaches is to build up and strengthen the medical facilities for cancer management he said that the world health organisation recommends at least one teletherapy unit per million population which means that india should be having at least 1400 teletherapy units against the available 762 units mostly in metropolitan cities and private hospitals to improve the scenario every district should have a medical college with a comprehensive cancer center with state of art facility for diagnosis and treatment of all types of cancer said prof choudhary the government should improve the facilities in existing cancer centres he said adding that every state should have an apex cancer center with ultramodern facilities for management of cancer facilities for research training and conducting multiinstitutional clinical trials every institute should have academic programs for generating welltrained cancer specialists tumor boards should be constituted in each cancer wing to offer best and evidencebased treatment according to prof choudhary government aids should reach to every needy without causing any delay in management of the diseas palliative care centers with hospice should be a part of each comprehensive cancer center to offer best supportive care to terminally ill cancer patients he said adding while government policy for procurement and use of opiods like morphine should be relaxed to make theme accessible the issue of euthanasia the intentional practice of ending life to relieve pain and suffering should be readdressed by the government as it is still illegal in india he said the department of radiotherapy and radiation medicine of bhu has one linear accelerator two telecobalt