India’s nari shakti needs better cancer care

This article is authored by Bhushan Akshikar, managing director, GSK India.

In 2024, over 780,000 new cases of cancer emerged among women in India. For a country aiming to be a developed country by 2047, this merits a hard question, with lakhs of its women vulnerable to a disease that can be detected or treated earlier, is India’s national ambition of nari shakti at risk?

Ovarian Cancer (Image by Freepik)

Women sit at the very heart of a nation’s economy. A healthy woman may be a professional, entrepreneur, caregiver, community leader or household decision-maker. When illnesses like cancer affects her ability to participate fully in work and society, the consequences are felt not only by families and communities but by the wider economy.

The corollary of this argument is that protecting women’s health and ensuring they remain productive directly adds economic value. Estimates from McKinsey Health Institute state that narrowing the women’s health gap could add at least $ 1 trillion annually to the global economy by 2040. This is particularly true for India where the participation of women in India’s labour force has increased to more than 40%, significantly driving the country’s economic progress.

To its credit, the government has adopted a multi-pronged approach focused on prevention, screening, early detection, and timely treatment for cancer, enabled by its vision of Swasth Nari Sashakt Parivar (Healthy Women, Empowered Families).

The nationwide HPV vaccination programme, launched in February, represents a meaningful long-term investment in prevention of cervical cancer and in the health of future generations of women. The sheer scale of the programme, which offers free cervical cancer vaccination to nearly 1.15 crore girls aged 14 years, demonstrates what is possible when public health intent translates into coordinated national action.

Progress is also being made in expanding access to treatment. Day care cancer centres are being scaled up through a hub-and-spoke model, and Ayushman Bharat’s PM-JAY now covers oncology across more than 1,900 procedures through empanelled public and private hospitals. This has ensured that 90% of patients enrolled under PM-JAY start treatment within 30 days of diagnosis, as indicated by government data. Across India, more than 1.8 lakh Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (health and wellness centres) are facilitating early screening for cancers, including oral, breast and cervical cancers, with more than 85 million women already screened for cervical cancer under the government’s National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD).

Alongside these efforts, the government has continued to advance its vision of broader financial protection and healthcare access through major policy shifts. Three-fourth of respondents to a study on GST exemption on health insurance policies believe that the exemption has made coverage more affordable.

That said, the true test of any health care system depends not only on its ability to detect disease, but on its ability to ensure that patients receive timely treatment and preventive care. This is where the next phase of India's cancer-care transformation must focus.

Let’s start with bridging the affordability gap in women’s cancer care. The Union Budgets of 2025–26 and 2026-27 have systematically waived off or exempted Basic Customs Duty for a number of life-saving drugs including critical, high-cost, imported cancer therapies. Exemption and concessional rates are also extended to the respective bulk drugs used to manufacture these medicines. While these fiscal policy measures are certainly commendable, relatively few of the drugs are specific to women’s cancer.

Secondly, cancer care is yet to go further from general awareness and screening. The true value of screening is realised only when a woman with an abnormal finding can obtain a timely confirmatory diagnosis, reach the appropriate specialist and begin treatment without avoidable delay. This is particularly important for cancers where symptoms can be non-specific, and the disease may be diagnosed at a more advanced stage.

A stronger national, preventive approach to women’s cancer should therefore focus on five connected priorities.

First, prevention and screening must reach more women, and it must reach them early. Awareness campaigns, vaccination and organised screening programmes should be designed to reach women across age groups, income levels and geographies, including those who may not routinely access formal healthcare. While the NP-NCD programme covers cervical and breast cancer, the government may consider broadening the scope to all gynaecological malignancies, including ovarian and uterine cancers.

Second, every positive screening result must lead to timely diagnosis and referral. Clear patient pathways, defined referral timelines, appropriate diagnostics and stronger coordination between primary, secondary and tertiary care can help reduce the risk of women being lost between detection and treatment. Greater use of digital systems and patient-navigation mechanisms could further support continuity of care, particularly for women who must move between multiple facilities.

Third, treatment must become more accessible and affordable. As cancer care becomes increasingly specialised and new standards of care emerge, the fiscal framework must evolve. Periodic review of tax policies on life-saving cancer medicines, advanced diagnostics and other essential components of care can help ensure policy keeps pace with clinical innovation and areas of unmet patient need. For instance, the exemption on Basic Customs Duty and GST should be extended to all women gynaecological cancers, which would significantly reduce the cost of treatment. This should be complemented by the timely inclusion of appropriate treatments and diagnostics in public financing, reimbursement and procurement mechanisms.

Fourth, specialised cancer care must be distributed more equitably. Screening infrastructure, advanced diagnostics, trained oncology professionals and day-care cancer centres should be expanded in underserved and high-burden regions. The cancer care models of Assam and Odisha demonstrate how strategic government-private collaboration can expand access to quality cancer care through decentralised treatment networks, early screening programs, tele-oncology, and affordable treatment closer to patients' homes.

The timely updation of cancer Standard Treatment Guidelines by the Government would ensure rapid incorporation of emerging evidence into clinical practice, early access through adoption by procurement agencies, greater equity in access, and more efficient utilisation of healthcare resources across India.

Lastly, no single institution can address the burden of cancer alone. Government, healthcare providers, medical associations, patient organisations, diagnostic companies, researchers and pharmaceutical innovators each bring different capabilities to the cancer-care ecosystem. Greater collaboration through partnerships can strengthen specialist capacity, improve referral networks, support awareness and screening, generate locally relevant evidence and help appropriate innovations reach patients more efficiently.

Taken together, these measures would reflect a clear direction towards a cancer-free India and would serve as the right impetus for a Viksit Bharat.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Bhushan Akshikar, managing director, GSK India.