Zubair Qureshi
October is the month of breast cancer awareness campaign and like every year, this year too Nuclear Oncology Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) is conducting Breast Cancer Awareness campaign in this month providing assistance to the patients, guidance and sensitizing to the visitors.
The building of the hospital has been illuminated in pink light to raise awareness on breast cancer.
Not only NORI, Aiwan-e-Sadr, Parliament House and other important state buildings have been illuminated pink to draw public attention and raise awareness on breast cancer.
In Pakistan, the number of breast cancer patients is steadily on the rise and of all female cancer patients 30pc are suffering from this disease.
This year, NORI has set Breast Cancer Awareness theme as “Keep your Head High and Your Spirits Higher.”
While talking to Pakistan Observer on Tuesday, a lady doctor of NORI hospital said various steps have been taken regarding general awareness on breast cancer particularly in this month.
A fast-track reception desk has been set up at the hospital. Besides free tests and examinations mammography, screening and other procedures are also performed. A special team of doctors has been constituted particularly for this month as number of patients/visitors increases in this month, she further said.
NORI has been among the font-line hospitals in raising cancer awareness for last many years and its campaigns on throat and lung cancers have also been received well with public.
However, its breast cancer awareness drive is something female patients wait throughout the year and according to a doctor, the hospital has been receiving 15 to 20 visitors daily from the first day who arrive with complaints/suspicion of breast cancer.
A senior doctor of the hospital said Breast Cancer if detected early is curable as its stages I and II are curable. Complications arise in stage III but that too is manageable while in stage IV survival rate is around 20pc.
To a question, she said incidence of breast cancer among women in Pakistan usually occurs between 40 and 50 years of age, however, now it is affecting even younger age group. In NORI alone we received 1100 patients of breast cancer in 2018, she said.
“At our facilitation desks we brief the visitors about breast cancer, its symptoms and how they themselves can examine it.
We also provide them with brochures and information material about breast cancer and provide all possible assistance in this regard,” she further said.
Besides these awareness desks, every Saturday is dedicated to general indoor discussions in which various groups from different hospitals and departments are sensitized. This Saturday we held sessions with nurses and female technologists, she said. A breast cancer awareness walk is also held on this day, she further told.
Although the whole month of October is dedicated to cancer awareness programmes but the main ceremony “World Mammogram Day” is scheduled for October 25 in which will participate doctors, patients, female participants and above all survivors who have heroic stories of success and struggle against breast cancer and victory over it.
The event is to be the highlight of the month-long campaign and serves to motivate female
community to get knowledge and awareness about the menace of breast cancer.
