According to Dr Sekhon, every year around 1,000 fresh cases are diagnosed with many patients having ignored their symptoms for one reason or the other. There are around 80,000 cases that are diagnosed to be suffering from the disease every year.

The country has about 75 per cent of overall cases found across the globe.

Dr Sekhon was speaking at a seminar on breast cancer at Addiction Fitness Centre in Sarabha Nagar here today. The seminar was attended by around 60 women, who were shown slideshow on how the disease can affect them and what are the measures that need to be taken to contain it.

The women were made aware of the symptoms and the stages of the disease.

"The major contributing factors are unhealthy lifestyle, obesity, alcohol consumption and genetic disorder. The number of cases of breast cancer in the country is highest because of the large size of our population. While in the USA, one in every nine women is prone to contract the disease, in India, one in every 40 women is likely to fall prey to the disease."

"Contrary to the nature of the disease which usually affects women above 40 years of age, it can also affect younger women . I have seen young girls as less as 13 years old and 18 years old to be suffering from the disease. There are around 10-15 per cent of patients that are in the age bracket of 20-30," Dr Sekhon furhter said.

He highlighted that in most of the cases, it is the lack of awareness among patients that leads to breast cancer. "Women tend to ignore the symptoms like a lump and then report to us only when it enters a later stage.