JAMMU, Feb 13: The first medical facility in the Jammu region to have an NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) testing facility for early cancer detection and diagnosis is the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Jammu. According to official sources on Tuesday, work on the NGS facility in the Jammu GMC is anticipated to begin in February. According to sources, “the Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu will have the NGS test facility in the MicroBiology Department by the end of February for early diagnosis of cancer-like symptoms.”Notably, the NGS is a massively parallel sequencing technology that provides incredibly high throughput, speed, and scalability. Using this approach, the nucleotide order of entire genomes or specific DNA or RNA portions can be ascertained. NGS provides speed, sensitivity, and accuracy benefits over conventional approaches that could have a big influence on the cancer community.NGS avoids the need to order several tests in order to identify the causative mutation because it can evaluate multiple genes in a single experiment. According to official sources, “in the first phase, 100 tests will be conducted in testing mode, and based upon the results, the facility will be a regular feature.” They also stated that early diagnosis of cancer can benefit in both prevention and treatment. According to them, people suffering from chronic diseases will benefit from the opening of the NGS test centre in Jammu and early identification can assist patients receive treatment on time.“We are on the job, and the NGS test facility is expected to begin in the hospital by the next two weeks,” stated Dr. (Prof) Ashutosh Sharma, a renowned oncologist and the principal of Government Medical College and Hospital in Jammu. The principal stated, “It will be the first of its kind facility in the GMC in the Jammu region, and it will start with breast cancer initially.” Reports state that during the previous five years, more than 55,000 cases of cancer were found in Jammu and Kashmir. The Health Ministry reports that there were 12396 instances of cancer in 2019, 12726 in 2020, 13060 in 2021, and 13395 in 2022.Fifty percent of cancer-related deaths in Jammu and Kashmir are attributable to breast, cervical, and mouth cancer in women, and lung and lung cancer in males. According to official sources, “the State Cancer Institute Jammu has registered more than 6,000 cancer cases in the last year.”
