IPOH, 22 Oct 2017:
A total of 22,714 women in Perak have undergone cancerscreening checks through the Mammogram Subsidy Programme run by the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) from 2007 to December last year.
Perak LPPKN director Suraya Ghazali said of the total, 70 women had been detected of having breast cancer.
“However, the level of awareness among women in the state to undergo a mammogram is still low, as some of them just don’t care, or are afraid to undergo the test.
“This mammogram test is very important, because breast cancer is a leading killer of women, and I hope more women will undergo the test,” she said at the ‘Kiss Goodbye to Breast Cancer’ (KGBC) 2017 programme here yesterday, co-organised by the BP Healthcare Group and LPPKN.
Suraya said LPPKN often organised awareness roadshows for women, especially in the rural areas on the importance of undergoing mammograms as an early detection and prevention of breast cancer.
Meanwhile, the cluster hospital concept has been suggested to be expanded to the rural district hospitals especially in Keningau, said State Health director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi.
She said the concept which optimised the use of space, facilities including sharing of expert services was suitable to be applied in Keningau Hospital since it would serve the people in the border districts including Tambunan, Tenom and Nabawan.
“The concept has been used in Tawau Hospital which provide specialist doctor services to hospitals in Kunak, Semporna and Lahad Datu, thereby it can overcome the shortage of specialist doctors problem.
“We already have the obstetrics and gynecology specialist service in Tawau and they are not only conducting treatment examination but also operation especially in Kunak Hospital.”
– Bernama