LAHORE: First Lady Samina Alvi, wife of President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday said that awareness about breast cancer and its timely diagnosis is highly important to minimize harm from this disease.
The First Lady said this at the inaugural ceremony of the genetic screening center of the breast and ovarian cancer at Lahore General hospital on Monday.
Mrs Alvi said that a genetic screening facility would help in getting high-quality screening for women in the country and ultimately enable timely diagnosis of this cancer.
“There is a dire need of getting mammograms done, but affordability is not possible for all sections in a developing country. Therefore, it is necessary for all women to carry out self-examination on a monthly basis as it is vital for early detection of the disease”, she added.
Samina Alvi said, “We have started a breast cancer awareness campaign for the last four years and it has really helped in creating awareness.”
She said that according to data from Shaukat Khanum Hospital breast cancer patients in the first and second stage were coming to the hospital in large numbers.
She said that Khyber Medical College was working on breast cancer screening and urged the male members to take women of their family to the hospital if they talk about any signs related to breast cancer.
First Lady said, “Timely detection of the disease not only helps in minimizing the trauma from which a patient suffers but it also reduces financial burden.”
She said that efforts were being made for the betterment of differently-abled persons.
However, she said there was a need to focus on mental health as it was the most important aspect when it comes to facing any challenge.
Samina Alvi said there were 13 hospitals in Karachi which were offering free treatment of breast cancer, around 8 in Punjab, 3 in Islamabad and 5 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
She further said that collective efforts were required to control the spread of this disease and to reduce the mortality rate which was around 50 percent.
She said that breast cancer awareness is promoted through cell phone messages yielding good results and more patients were approaching hospitals as a result of this initiative.
