By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: A new initiative ‘Screen for Life’ that promotes awareness and early detection of breast and bowel cancer in Qatar to save lives is set-to begin from January 2016.
With the high incidence of breast and bowel cancer in the country the campaign by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) will encourage people without symptoms to screen for cancer.
It will aim at women aged 45 years or older with no symptoms to screen for breast cancer through mammography and calls on men and women aged 50 years or older with no symptoms to undergo bowel cancer screening, said officials yesterday.
The Al Wakra Breast and Bowel Cancer Screening Center will open for patients from January 17, 2016. The facility is located within the premises of Al Wakra Health Centre, said Dr Mariam Ali Abdulmalik, Managing Director of the PHCC addressing a press conference.
Also a mobile unit will be launched in March, which will visit health centers to screen patients. Breast and Bowel Cancer Screening Center in Leabaib will open in March and Rawdat Al Khail in December.
PHCC will be also launching a special call center for Breast and Bowel Screening.
According to the Supreme Council of Health (SCH), among the incidence of cancer in Qatar, breast cancer accounted for 17.42 percent, while bowel cancer is 10.55 percent.
HMC has well-established breast and bowel cancer treatment programmes, that include internationally peer reviewed multi-disciplinary teams, sub-specialised surgery and state-of-the-art treatment facilities.
‘“Screen for Life works on educating society about cancer through high-profile awareness campaigns that also stress the importance of early detection.
“As most of you may know, early detection of cancer significantly increases the chances of successful treatment,” said Dr Abdulmalik. “The basic screening for breast and bowel cancer will be done at health centres and, if detected with the disease, patients will be immediately transferred to Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC),” she added.
According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the survival rate from breast cancer when detected at an early stage is 98 percent, while according to the Colon Cancer Alliance, the survival rate from bowel cancer when detected at an early stage is 90 percent.
Sheikha Leena bint Nasser bin Khaled Al Thani, Ambassador of the ‘Screen for Life’ Breast Cancer awareness programme; Dr Mohamed Al Thani, Director, Public Health Department, Supreme Council of Health; and Dr Salha Boujassoum, Co-Chair, Breast Cancer Tumour Board, and Clinical Lead for the Breast Cancer MDT from HMC, were present at the press conference. To implement ‘Screen for Life’ PHCC has collaborated with international companies from Japan and the US for equipment, and clinical operations. ‘Screen for Life’ has been initiated in line with the National Cancer Strategy’s key recommendation 5.2, which stresses the need in Qatar for a population-based cancer screening programme.
The Peninsula
