New Delhi, July 18 -- The Supreme Court on Friday said it will examine the broader issue of affordable access to life-saving cancer medicines and judicial delays in cases involving the right to health, expressing concern that a breast cancer patient's petition remained pending before the Kerala high court despite being listed 57 times before her death. Issuing notice in a suo motu case, a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said repeated listings without an effective hearing prompted the top court to step in. "Initially, we were reluctant of taking it up suo motu, but then we noticed reports that it was listed 57 times but was not being decided...that concerned us," the bench, also comprising justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said. The proceedings were initiated by the Supreme Court on the basis of a letter petition seeking affordable access to breast cancer medicines. Senior advocate Anand Grover, seeking to assist the court, said he had been appearing for the deceased patient's husband before the Kerala high court, but urged the Supreme Court to expand the scope of the proceedings. "This is a huge problem. Most new cancer medicines are patented. They are unaffordable...The government has power under the Patents Act to compulsorily license them... but only one licence has been issued since 2005. That too in a private dispute," he said. Advocate Aljo Joseph, appearing for the Kerala government, said the HC had already converted the matter into a suo motu PIL and was regularly monitoring it. The CJI said the Supreme Court's concern was not with the high court's jurisdiction, but with the delay in deciding the original petition....