President urges upgraded screening facilities for breast cancers early detection
He assured full support to FBCSC for establishing a breast cancer screening setup.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said in Pakistan, one woman died of breast cancer every 15 minutes and stressed a comprehensive community-based health education programme to raise awareness about the fatal disease.
Chairing a briefing on breast cancer by the Secretary National Health Services here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the president said women in the country should be provided facilities including screening, sessions on self-examination along with clinical examination and free screening mammography under one roof.
President Alvi appreciated that Federal Breast Cancer Screening Centre (FBCSC) at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for initiating free screening mammography that helped detection of a large number of breast cancer cases at early stages.
He assured full support to FBCSC for establishing a breast cancer screening setup, at par with rest of the world in order to reduce the mortality and morbidity and appreciated the efforts for controlling the incidence of this disease in the country.
The President was briefed on the mapping of the mammography facilities in the country in order to utilize them for breast cancer screening.
Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia with one in every nine women suffering from the fatal disease. Approximately 90,000 new women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, out of which 40,000 die.
Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women and also causes the greatest number of cancer-related deaths among them.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza, and representatives from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, Lahore, Shifa International Hospital, Pink Ribbon, Green Star, World Health Organization, and UNICEF were also present on the occasion.
