ISLAMABAD: Samina Alvi, wife of President Dr Arif Alvi, on Wednesday said every eighth woman in Pakistan was at risk of suffering from breast cancer and stressed the need for an urgent plan of action to reduce growing number of patients.

Addressing participants of an awareness walk on breast cancer held at the National Institute of Health (NIH), she said establishing a national cancer registry was the need of the hour to formulate effective policies in connection with the disease.

Early diagnosis is the best cure against breast cancer instead of the expensive and painful treatment at later stages of the disease, she said, adding in Pakistan with 100,000 new cancer patients every year, breast cancer was most prevalent as compared to its other forms. She emphasised on raising mass awareness in society to shun taboos affiliated with breast cancer.

Begum Alvi said a healthy woman could positively contribute to society and advised women to practice self-diagnosis, which could save precious lives. She said though October was marked across the country as breast cancer awareness month, the message needs to be spread persistently throughout the year.

She urged parliamentarians to play a strong role towards highlighting the issue in their constituencies and sensitise people. Ms Alvi said she would visit all provinces in the current month to raise awareness among girls and women at schools and colleges about the disease.

Dr Faisal Sultan, special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on health said the government was making efforts to strengthen primary care centres to treat cancers of different kinds including breast cancer.

Parliamentary Secretary on Health Dr Nosheen Hamid said lack of awareness was the main reason behind the alarming 98pc death rate in patients with breast cancer in the country.

Later, Begum Alvi led the awareness walk along with NIH Executive Director Maj Gen Aamer Ikram, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas, doctors, researchers and women from all walks of life including breast cancer patients.

Awareness walk organised

A breast cancer awareness walk, under the slogan ‘Give Hope Save Lives’ was organised by the Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) on Wednesday.

The institute is a top-notch public sector cancer hospital, which was established in the federal capital by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1983. Director of NORI Dr Mohammad Faheem welcomed participants of the awareness activity and shared details about newly added facilities at the hospital which include the addition of a linear accelerator.

Dr Faheem thanked the PAEC chairman for his unwavering support to the noble cause of upgrading NORI in particular and other cancer hospitals being run under the aegis of PAEC in general. He also thanked the president of Patient Welfare Society (PWS) of NORI, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry for his valuable assistance.

PAEC Chairman Mohammad Naeem, who was recently awarded the prestigious Nishan-i-Imtiaz (NI) addressed the seminar as chief guest and stressed that early diagnosis was the key to cure breast cancer. Dr Naeem told participants that the 19th cancer hospital of PAEC in Gilgit (GINOR) has been completed and will soon be open for patients

Mr Naeem later inaugurated the newly added linear accelerator facility at NORI. On this occasion, cancer survivors including the former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Member of Patient Support Group (NORI) Mrs Samina Zafar shared their experiences of fighting the disease with the help of the NORI team.

She highlighted the importance of emotional support from families of patients and appreciated the dedication, patience and professional attitude of doctors from NORI especially Dr Faheem, Dr Humera Mahmood and Dr Kashif.

Head of the Oncology Department Dr Humera Mahmood announced names of teams who won the Breast Cancer Awareness Poster Competition whereas the PAEC chairman and member science Dr Masood Iqbal distributed prizes among winners and shields among worthy guests.

Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were strictly followed by the organisers.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2021