RAWALPINDI: Vice-chancellor (VC) Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) Professor Dr Muhammad Umar on Wednesday said breast cancer was a killing disease, but was curable if diagnosed at an earlier stage.
Talking to reporter the VC said there was a need to educate women about
self-examination because breast cancer did not affect only women but the whole family have to bear consequences in terms of social and financial impacts.
“Women should begin screening for breast cancer at the age of 40”, he said adding, “If you have a family history of breast cancer, you may need to be screened preferably”.
Dr Umer said cases of breast cancer in Pakistan was alarming as Pakistan has the highest cases of breast cancer in Asia. “One out of 8th women in Pakistan was diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime, ” he said.
He revealed that women in the developing world, like Pakistan, tend to die at greater rates than in more developed countries because the disease was generally diagnosed later which resulted in poor treatment results.
Dr Umer informed that to get relevant data and improve the services of health care in hospitals, a unit of Cancer Registry had been set up at Holy Family Hospital with the assistance of surgical specialists and young doctors.
“October is a breast cancer awareness month, but it is also a month to shed light on the importance, actualities and education on breast cancer”, he added.