'Pakistan okays National Breast Cancer Screening Programmes'

Dr Mehreen Bhutto, Parliamentary Secretary for Health, who was the Chief Guest on this occasion said, “I understand that cancers in women remain a global public health burden. A progressive rise in the incidents has been recorded in the last ten years and each year more than 460,000 new cases occurred and about 231,000 women die of these diseases accounting 33 per cent deaths. These breast and cervical cancers are the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide.

Prevention and early detection of these deadly conditions is a great challenge for the developing countries. With regards to breast cancer, government of Pakistan has approved National Breast Cancer Screening Programmes. In this regard, five Breast Cancer Screening Centres have been established in 05 major cities of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta. PC-I has been prepared by the respective institute, for the purpose of community screening of breast cancer four mobile vans have been approved. It has also been approved that four mobile vans will go to peripheries for screening the community. Media has been advised to make awareness raising programmes for breast cancer screening.