Medical Co-ordinator of the Breast Screening Programme, Dr. Shirley Hanoman-Jhagroo, greets Father Clement Paul after yesterday’s service.
Representatives of the Barbados Cancer Society and the Ministry of Health during yesterday’s service to commemorate the Breast Screening Programme’s 15th anniversary.
Breast Screening Programme helps thousands
AS many as 90 000 clients have passed through the Breast Screening Programme of the Barbados Cancer Society (BCS).
That’s according to Medical Co-ordinator of the Breast Screening Programme, Dr. Shirley Hanoman-Jhagroo. She was speaking yesterday morning during a service at the St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, where officials from the BCS and the Ministry of Health gathered to mark the Programme’s 15th anniversary, as she told the congregation about the success of the initiative over the years. In fact, she said it is rated as one of the best early detection clinics in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Hanoman-Jhagroo’s comments came as she noted that breast cancer remains the most common cause of death from cancer among Barbadian women, and so the programme seeks to reduce the number of premature deaths from breast cancer through early detection. As such, she said that persons attending the clinic are guaranteed excellent service at a rate which they can afford. She made the point while lamenting that prior to the commencement of the programme, the majority of breast cancer cases which were diagnosed were in stages four to five. With such diagnoses, she said patients were being given less than five to 10 per cent, five years survival. Today, she revealed that the majority of patients diagnosed with breast cancer in this country are in the stages zero to one.
“So we have come a long way,” she contended.
The medical co-ordinator said that the clinic is second to none, featuring state-of-the-art equipment, on par with those found in first world countries. She said it is also a major tool in helping to raise awareness about the importance of detecting breast cancer early, as is the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Walk.
“This awareness has contributed tremendously to early detection because with awareness there will be patients diagnosed early because they come early. And, if you’re diagnosed early, your survival rate will be, and can be, almost 100 per cent,” she maintained. (JRT)