The Hindu : Karnataka News : Udupi district tops State in social infrastructure: Acharya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 27, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Udupi district tops State in social infrastructure: Acharya

Staff Correspondent

‘Pap smear test has helped in bringing down death rate among cervical cancer-affected people’

One lakh women are dying of cervical cancer in India annually: expert
Steps to be taken to create awareness about the diseases among rural people

Manipal: Home Minister V.S. Acharya said on Saturday that Udupi district topped the State in social infrastructure.

He was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on “Cervical cancer prevention”, organised by the Kasturba Hospital, Manipal branch of the Federation of Obstetrics, and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), and Lions Club here.

Dr. Acharya said that in the Human Development Index Survey conducted in 1999, Udupi topped the chart with the lowest infant mortality and maternal mortality in the State. It had been found during the survey that Udupi had an infant mortality of six in thousand births. In western countries, the infant mortality rate was eight in thousand births, he said.

He said that cervical cancer in women could be prevented if they took to “Pap smear test” at the earliest when they entered sexually active age. With concerted efforts, the rate of cervical cancer could be brought down. There was a lot of development in the areas of treatment, therapeutic, and diagnostic approaches over the decades.

Challenge

“But the challenge is in making all these modern methods of treatment available to the common man,” Dr. Acharya said.

Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kasturba Hospital Pratap Kumar said that cervical cancer was the most common cancer that affected a woman‘s reproductive organs. It was the leading cause of death in women in India. About five lakh women around the world died of cervical cancer every year. India alone contributed one lakh cases annually.

But cervical cancer could be completely prevented by simple tests, he said.

Half of cervical cancer cases occurred in women between 35 and 55 years.

The Pap test screening had brought down the death rate among the cervical cancer-affected over the last 40 years. Camps would be held in rural areas of Udupi district in the coming months to create awareness about cervical cancer, Dr. Kumar said.

Head of the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology Vidya Sagar, president of the Lions Club Raviraj Bhandary, medical superintendent of Kasturba Hospital T.S. Raghu Raman, Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology A.P. Manjunath, and secretary of Manipal branch of FOGSI Jayaraman Nambiar were present.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka