More than 40,000 cases of cancer among children are being reported in India every year, the Indo-Asian News Service Sunday said.
Experts were quoted as saying that only a fraction of them manage to receive proper treatment.
"The number of cases of childhood cancer is increasing in India. Of the 40,000 that is reported, only 20 to 30 percent manage to get proper treatment," the report quoted senior consultant pediatric oncologist at the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute Gauri Kapoor as saying.
Unlike cancer in adults, childhood cancers have a higher cure rate. But this is only possible if the cancer is diagnosed at the right stage and the child is given right mode of treatment, the doctor was quoted as saying.
The common cancers among children are acute lymphoblastic leukemia or blood cancer, germ cell tumour, brain tumour and liver and kidney cancer.