'Cancer Screening’ training held at GKNM
Survival ratio of cervical cancer patients low in IndiaCoimbatore:The survival ratio of cervical cancer patients in India remains low as most of them go to hospital at an advanced stage, said Dr Partha S Basu, Head of the Gynaecologic Oncology Department at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata.
He was addressing a one-day workshop and training on an ‘Update on Cervical Cancer Screening’ organised at the G Kuppusamy Naidu Memorial Hospital,Coimbatore. Basu said the number of women affected by cancer of cervix in India every year was 1.2 lakh while it was 14,000 in the US and 9,000 in the UK.
Noting that nearly 75,000 women died every year due to the disease, he said that lack of awareness, early marriage, lack of early detection facility, poor hygiene and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases were the common causes for the disease.The malady, which afflicts women in the age group of 30-34 years, would develop slowly over a period of 10 to 15 years. Basu stressed the need for women above 30 years to undergo cervical cancer test once in five years as early detection can prevent death.
Basu, who is also a consultant to the United Nations, said periodical screening would enable the doctors to cure cancer and save lives.Dr M Banumathy, organising secretary, Dr Suma Natarajan of GKNM Hospital,Coimbatore and doctors from several districts and medical students participated.
