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No government-run teaching hospital in rural Sindh has got the facility of mammography, to help detect breast cancer, which is rising with an alarming rate in women of both rural and urban areas.

A few government teaching hospitals in Karachi have got the mammography facility and rural patients have to incur heavy expenses to travel and stay in Karachi to get their disease detected and treated.

Various medical studies have indicated that cases of breast cancer among women and young girls in the country are on the rise and if this issue were not tackled on war-footing basis, the situation might go out of control in near future.

Special Secretary Public Health, Government of Sindh, Dr Captain (retd) Abdul Majid, when contacted said the government is trying its best to provide healthcare facilities to citizens in both rural and urban areas. He said breast cancer is a serious issue and Sindh health department is working on a plan to train medical staff in this regard so that free of cost mammography facilities could be provided in all teaching hospitals of the Sindh.

He said that the machines used in mammography tests to detect breast cancer are costly and the government is trying to buy more machines for this purpose. He said presently the facility of mammography is present in a few government-run hospitals of Karachi, while efforts are being made to provide this facility to all other teaching hospitals.

It may be noted that major teaching hospitals of rural Sindh are affiliated to Liaquat Medical College Jamshro, Peoples Medical College Nawabshah, Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College Sukkur and Chandka Medical College Larkana. These hospitals badly need mammography testing facilities to detect breast cancer. In past the government had announced to upgrade all district headquarters hospitals as teaching hospitals; however, like other numerous decisions and announcements the upgrading of district hospitals still awaits implementation. Women, almost 50percent of total population could be greatly facilitated if mammography facilities provided in the district headquarters hospitals.

Dr Shaista Masood Khan, consultant surgeon at Aga Khan Hospital Karachi told PPI that 35 percent of the all cancer cases registered in the country belong to breast cancer. She said not all breast cancer cases are registered with hospitals, and the actual number of such cases might be much higher.

The reasons behind breast cancer could be genetic and hereditary in nature. Late marriages of girls may also cause breast cancer. She said there in no dedicated medical centre is the country to help controlling the increasing cases of breast cancer or where people from poor families could also be examined and treated.

Source: The Nation

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