Reliance-owned Karkinos crosses 1 lakh HPV DNA tests, eyes wider role in India's cervical cancer fight

Reliance Industries-owned Karkinos Healthcare has completed HPV DNA screening for more than one lakh women across India, marking a major milestone in the country's efforts to improve early detection and prevention of cervical cancer.

The company, a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of Reliance Industries, said the programme combines community outreach, screening, digital tracking, patient navigation and follow-up care, addressing one of the biggest challenges in cervical cancer prevention — ensuring women who test positive remain connected to the healthcare system.

Focus on screening and follow-up

Cervical cancer remains one of the most preventable forms of cancer, but experts say many women are lost to follow-up after initial screening, particularly in smaller towns and underserved regions.

Karkinos said its model is built around World Health Organization-recommended HPV DNA testing and a digitally enabled care pathway that integrates awareness, screening, triage, diagnosis, treatment navigation and follow-up.

"The evidence has been clear for some time that HPV DNA testing is the most reliable primary screen we have for cervical cancer," said Dr Neerja Bhatla, consultant, early detection and women wellness at Karkinos Healthcare and a Padma Shri awardee.

"What matters now is not testing at scale alone but also ensuring that every woman who tests positive is carried through to diagnosis and treatment across the care continuum," she said.

Expanding access beyond major cities

According to the company, the milestone was achieved through multiple delivery models, including public-health programmes, public-private partnerships, CSR-supported initiatives, district-level screening drives, nurse-assisted screening and self-sampling programmes.

A large proportion of the women screened came from districts and communities that traditionally have limited access to organised cancer screening services.

"For decades, the obstacle in this country has not been our understanding of cervical cancer; it has been the reach," said Dr Goura Kishore Rath, senior oncology advisor at Karkinos Healthcare and former head of NCI-India.

"Bringing a high-quality test to women in districts and small towns and then carrying them through the system rather than leaving them with only a result is how a public-health gain is actually made," he added.

Scaling preventive healthcare

Karkinos said the infrastructure and technology developed through the programme could support wider adoption of organised cervical cancer screening across India.

Sripriya Rao, chief growth officer for women wellness and head of the Distributed Cancer Care Network at Karkinos, said the company now aims to significantly expand the initiative.

"Every one of these one lakh tests represents a woman who was met where she was. The measure of this work is not how many women we reached, but how many we did not lose along the way," Rao said.