A unique initiative has been taken up to address the problem of breast cancer in the State. Taking an Assembly constituency as a unit, the programme was launched jointly by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao, and well-known oncoplastic surgeon P. Raghu Ram.
For the past few years Mr. Harish Rao has taken up several measures to build a ‘Healthy Siddipet’. While focusing on sanitation issues, he was also focusing on health-related issues.
Awareness camp held
As part of that, an awareness camp for Asha workers and ANMs was held at Siddipet on September 6 at the district headquarters. In the camp, Dr. Raghu Ram had explained key symptoms to identify breast cancer - lump in the breast, discharge from nipple, and inverted nipple.
Primary screening to identify breast cancer in women based on the symptoms was conducted from October 1 to October 25 in both Siddipet and Dubbak constituencies. As many as 57 cases were identified as suspects out of the total 16,846 screened in Siddipet constituency, followed by 56 in Dubbak constituency out of the total 21,640. This exercise is yet to be taken up at the district headquarters.
Once primary screening is completed, the secondary screening is being conducted by Umang, a Bangaluru-based cancer detection equipment manufacturer. The secondary screening was done by using ‘Thermalytix technology’ to ascertain the potential cancer substance among the women. Two health department workers also went for secondary screening totalling the number to 59. At Dubbak, the secondary screening would begin in the next few days.
Treatment at MNJ
“The women would be sent for treatment to Mehdi Nawaz Jung (MNJ) Cancer Institute in Hyderabad if they were tested positive in the screening,” Dr. Kashinath, one of the doctors supervising the programme told The Hindu .
