Breast and cervical cancer screening of 2000 women in Uttarakhand on International Women’s Day
To mark International Women’s Day 2020, Nationwide cervical and breast cancer screening camp was by the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) in more than 300 cities.
Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening in Uttarakhand
In Uttarakhand, these camps were organized in 6 cities, Dehradun, Haridwar, Rudrapur, Kashipur, Ramnagar, and Halwani under the leadership of Dr. Sumita Prabhakar, President of Can Protect Foundation.
Free Women’s Health Camp with Breast and Cervical Cancer at Police Lines, Dehradun
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, a free women’s health camp, along with breast and cervical cancer screening facility, was organized at Police Lines (Dehradun) by Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) in collaboration with the Can Protect Foundation.
Facilities
Camps were organized for women working in the police. In which the facility of breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment of other diseases for women was available. These camps also covered sugar tests, blood pressure checks, general blood test and diet along with clinical breast examination, mammography, pap smear, and gynecological checkup. Free medicine was also distributed in the camps. Informative material was also distributed for breast examination awareness itself.
Number of Patients Covered:
Around 2000 women took advantage of this camp throughout Uttarakhand. In the camp held in Dehradun, 410 women were screened free of cost.
Inauguration:
The camp was inaugurated by Dr. Alaknanda Ashok, Dean, College of Technology, Pant Nagar University, in the esteemed presence of Mrs. Shweta Chaubey, SP City, Ms. Visakha Badhani Ashok, ASP, Dr. Meenu Vaish, Dr. Sumita Prabhakar, Dr. Ajit Garola and Nehru Colony CO Pallavi Tyagi.
In Uttarakhand, we have screened around two thousand women in one day for breast and cervix abnormalities, abnormal symptoms found in few women, which will be investigated further. In Uttarakhand women are at increased risk of breast and cervical cancer, so it is important spread awareness and easy access to screening facilities. We want to raise awareness that cervical cancer prevention is possible and for women aged 40–65 years, a screening or pap smear test in 3-5 years is very important.
– Dr Sumita Prabhakar, Uttarakhand State Cordinator FOGSI
During the program, awareness programs for breast and cervical cancer were organized in all the camps, in which information was also given about how to do breast examination yourself.
Dr. Sumita Prabhakar, Dr. Meenu Vaishya, Dr. SG Sethi, Dr. Anu Dheer, Dr. Arunima Goyal, Dr. Mansi Vaishya, Dr. Radhika Raturi, Dr. Huma Parveen, Dr. Rekha Khanna, Dr. Vinita Singh examined the patients at the camp.
Impact
While thousands of women from police and CRPF attended the cancer screening camps, we also realized that nearly 80 % of women were unaware of the importance of cancer screening, vaccination for cervical cancer, breast self-examination, breast, and cervical cancer causes and prevention and the fact that it is curable. Many were also uninformed about the right age and the frequency of cancer screening. But after attending free camps, all these women are now fully aware of the importance of cancer screening, symptoms, pap smear, etc.
