KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 – Incident rates of major cancers in Malaysia were on the rise from 2013 to 2021, according to the National Cancer Patient Registry.
Breast cancer had the highest number of incident rates among all main cancers in Malaysia during the same period. This is followed by colorectal cancer, trachea, bronchus and lung cancer, lymphoma, liver cancer, and leukaemia.
“All six of these cancers account for more than half of all cancer cases overall, which is 55 per cent,” said Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad in his written reply to the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
“During that period, two cancers that showed a decrease in incident rates were cervical cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer,” he added.
“Meanwhile, other main cancers showed increases in incident rates.”
He was responding to Kuala Nerus MP Alias Razak who asked for cancer patient statistics by type from 2013 to 2023.
Alias also wanted to know the ministry’s plan for solving the issue of cancer patients having to wait a long time to get a diagnosis from a specialist, until the cancer has reached a critical stage.
In his response, Dzulkefly said among the continuous steps that have been taken to reduce the waiting period of obtaining a cancer diagnosis include making it a laboratory key performance index (KPI) at Ministry of Health facilities to report the tissue analysis (histopathological examination, HPE) of cancer patients within 14 days.
For cancer patients who have been diagnosed through the HPE, a CT Scan appointment will be given within a week, or the latest, in two weeks for staging.
For patients suspected of having cancer but have yet to receive confirmation through HPE, an appointment will be given between two to four weeks or sooner.
The oncologist or the primary team will also discuss the possibility of an earlier appointment if needed.
