Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in India, accounting for 28.2 per cent of all cancers that affect them. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the five-year survival rate is 66.4 per cent, compared to 90.2 per cent in developed countries like the US, largely because of lack of access to early diagnosis and care. Although the number of patients continues to increase because of awareness and reporting, evidence-backed treatments are curing the disease and prolonging lives. I have cited statistics of breast cancer because that’s what cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife suffered from and who, he claims, has recovered with alternative therapies like fasting, going off sugar and dairy and having neem and lemon water. Had cancer cure been possible with these therapies, and there was scientific evidence establishing a direct link, then we would not have seen so many women patients, with their age profile becoming younger. That is why in this country, where there is already scepticism about and deep distrust of scientific systems of treatment …