International Women’s Day: Can Protect Foundation organised medical and cancer awareness camp at Village Chamasari, Uttarakhand
To meet the goal of prevention and early diagnosis of Breast and Cervical cancer in women and to provide high-quality health services for women in remote areas Can Protect Foundation under the supervision of Dr. Sumita Prabhakar organized a Women’s Health and Cancer Awareness Camp on 6th March 2022 in Chamsari village on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
A team of 4 doctors from Can Protect Foundation from key specializations including General Medicine and Gynecology, 4 nurses, and 3 paramedical staff rendered their services at the day-long camp, which was inaugurated jointly by Divisional Forest Officer Mrs. Kahkashan Naseem, Dr. Sumita Prabhakar, President Can Protect Foundation, Village Head (Pradhan) Mr. Narendra Melwan, Bhadrigad Range Forest Officer Ms. Medhavi Kirti.
The free health and Cancer Awareness Camp offered check-ups with specialists including General Medicine and Gynecology. In addition to this, the camp offered free medicines and free screenings such as Blood Sugar, Blood pressure, Hemoglobin, Breast checkup by iBreast exam and Breast Light.
In this health camp, 75 women and 35 men from Chamasari and nearby villages were examined.
Women were made aware of Breast Cancer
All the women were made aware of the prevention and early detection of cancer. Dr. Sumita Prabhakar informed women about the ways to prevent cervical cancer and early detection of breast cancer. She told about the symptoms, risk factors, and important screening tests for breast cancer, which can detect breast cancer in its early stages due to which chances of successful treatment of the patient are high. Women were also briefed about “Can App”, a mobile app for breast and cervical cancer information developed by the Can Protect Foundation. Dr. Sumita told the women that “Can App” is a free app that can be downloaded from Google Play Store, “Can App” is a multilingual app and it is available in Garhwali and other languages. A demo of “Can App” was also given by her.
The residents of Chamasari and nearby villages took advantage of this health camp. Gram Pradhan of Chamsari village Shri Narendra Singh Melwanmade special cooperation in organizing the camp. A team of 14 people came for this health camp from Can Protect Foundation, which included specialist doctors, paramedical staff, and volunteers.
Opportunistic screening of Breast Cancer
Dr. Sumita Prabhakar said that cases of breast and cervical cancer are increasing in the hills too and to control this situation, women’s health camps and Cancer Awareness Camps are being organized by Can Protect Foundation in many villages. Gynecologists go to the village during the camp. This creates an environment of opportunistic screening where women can talk freely about breast diseases and get their health check-ups and breast examinations done. Due to this the chances of early detection of breast cancer increase, which can help cut down on the number of people who die from breast cancer. Dr Sumita Prabhakar told the women at this event that a mobile app called “Can App” has been made by the Can Protect Foundation in the Garhwali language. It’s free, and women can use it to learn and do a Breast Self Examination on their own phones at home. Canapp is also available in Kumaoni, Jaunsari, Hindi, Avadhi and English.
Asha Ki Kiran Award 2022
Can Protect Foundation honoured women from villages of Chamasari and the Mussoorie region with the “Kiran of Hope” award. Asha Ki Kiran Award is given every year to those women who have contributed to women’s empowerment and health.
The chief guest of this program, the divisional officers of Mussoorie Forest Division, Mrs. Kahkashan Naseem and Dr Sumita Prabhakar honoured the women of Chamasari village, Sera village, Bhutta village, Negyana village and Sendul village by giving a citation, shawl and memento. Mussoorie Range Officer Mr. SP Gairola and Bhadrigarh Range Officer Ms. Medhavi Kirti also participated in this program.
On this occasion, Chamasari’s Principal Narendra Melwan, Forest Officer, Bhadrigad Range Medhavi Kirti, Mussoorie Forest Officer Gairola, Dr. Rekha Khanna, Dr. Vinita Singh, Dr. Pooja, Sister Nirmala, Lalit Anand, Surendra Juneja, Sameer Dutta were present.
