By Dilanthi Jayamanne
Over two thousand breast cancer and one thousand cervical cancer patients were detected in Sri Lanka annually, Director of the Cancer Control Programme (CCP), Dr. N. Paranagama said yesterday. She said that the programme initiated in collaboration with the Education Ministry to screen school teachers in the Badulla District for the two types of cancers - breast and cervical - was conducted after all schools in the Badulla District were covered.
According to Dr. Paranagama, the CCP still carried out those programmes although not in a similarly organised way. Many of the screening programmes were carried out through the Health Ministry’s ‘Suwa Udana Programme’, under which the CCP carried out screening in Polonnaruwa, Kegalle and many other districts as well.
Dr. Paranagama said that women between 30 and 35 years were screened for breast and cervical cancer. "It takes around five years for a cervical cancer to develop. It can be identified and dealt with, after a pap-smear test during the early stages of its development," she said,
The CCP Director said they also conducted awareness programmes on non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and carried out surveys on weight loss and BMI (body mass index) which indicated signs of obesity.
Meanwhile, Health Ministry sources said the programme had been initiated under the ‘Suwa Udana’ programme of the Health Ministry during Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva’s time in 2008. It had been intent on providing the opportunity to all government and private school teachers, throughout the country to screen for breast and cervical cancer.
They said that majority of women were reluctant to have the pap smear test owing to their busy schedules and inhibitions.
Over 12,000 new cancer cases were reported each year. The Cancer Institute Website reveals that in 2007 a total of 7,200 patients were identified as malignant. The number of women with cancer was 55.5 percent of the total detections. The highest number of malignancies among women was related to breast, cervical, and thyroid gland.http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=49118
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