By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Monday underlined the need for raising awareness among women about the breast cancer, its early detection and treatment so as to save precious lives.
He regretted that due to lack of education and awareness, the breast cancer mortality rate in Pakistan was almost 50% which was quite alarming. The president made these remarks while chairing a meeting on breast awareness campaign through video link from Karachi.
Addressing the meeting, the president emphasized that the female doctors should hold regular sessions in women colleges and universities regarding breast cancer to create awareness about the disease.
He also underlined the need for establishing registry at central and provincial levels to collect data about breast cancer cases, so that the government could take appropriate measures to respond to the disease.
The meeting was attended by Special Assistant to PM on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan, provincial health ministers from Punjab, Khyber Pakhunkhwa, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Pakistan Dr. Palitha Mahipala, chief secretaries of Balochistan and Sindh, representatives of PIMS and Shifa International hospital.
The president highlighted that women of the country were facing multiple health problems, including malnutrition that needed to be addressed on priority basis.
Appreciating the role played by media in creating awareness about breast cancer in October last year, the President hoped that media would also play a similar active role this year to educate the people about the disease.
The provincial governments briefed the president about the facilities available in their provinces for the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
The meeting suggested various proposals to improve the healthcare system to cater to the needs of country. Last week, President Dr Arif Alvi on September 15 called for creating awareness and early diagnosis of cancer as these measures can help reduce the risk of disease.
He said that the incidences of cancer were rising in Pakistan and it required timely diagnosis and adequate treatment facilities to cope with the situation.The President made these remarks at a briefing about cancer cases, particularly breast cancer, in Pakistan here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Chairman, Cancer Care Hospital and Research Center (CCHRC), Lahore, Prof Dr Shahryar, Prof Dr Areesha Zaman and Prof Dr Nabila Shami attended the meeting. Chairman CCHRC, Prof Dr Shahryar, briefed the meeting about the cancer cases and the treatment facilities being provided by his organisation.
He informed that around 353,000 people got afflicted with cancer every year and only 71,000 patients were getting adequate treatment while the rest remained deprived due to the lack of sufficient healthcare facilities.
He also highlighted the achievements of CCHRC that provided free-of-cost treatment to the patients. The President appreciated the efforts and contributions of CCHRC Lahore, in providing free-of-cost treatment facilities to cancer patients.
