Why Oral Cancer Screening Camps Are Becoming Essential in India's Tobacco-Heavy Workforce
India reports the highest burden of oral cancer globally. With 143,759 new cases annually and a mortality rate of 8.7% , oral cancer is the second most prevalent cancer in the country - yet only 1.2% of men and 0.9% of women have ever been screened. That gap between burden and detection doesn't exist because people don't care. It exists because the screening never reaches them. The Workforce Problem Nobody Is Talking About India's industrial workforce - construction workers, factory floor staff, daily-wage labourers, truck drivers - carries a disproportionate share of tobacco use. Gutka, bidi, khaini, pan masala - smokeless and smoked tobacco are deeply embedded in workplace culture across Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat . A 2025 cross-sectional study found that 54.3% of oral cancer patients used smokeless tobacco, 27.6% used both smoked and smokeless forms - and the overwhelming majority came from lower socioeconomic...