The Indian Cancer Informatics Platform: IT in Medicine

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated a network of cancer registries across the country under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) in December 1981. The NCRP is a long term activity of the ICMR and is now poised to be upgraded as a new permanent ICMR centre 'National Centre for Disease Informatics', in Bangalore, India. There are 23 population based cancer registries (PBCRs) and 5 hospital based cancer registries under the NCRP. There is an increasing demand for more cancer registries. With a population of over one billion, growing and people living longer, numbers of cancers are mounting. Perhaps, no single country shows a wide variation in incidence and types of cancer as that observed in India. Over the years, the NCRP has developed software to aid cancer research and development. A short introduction and summary of few of the major projects undertaken are illustrated below.