KUCHING: The overall number of breast cancer cases in Sarawak is between 500 and 600 new cases a year. Advisor to Sarawak Breast Cancer Support Group, Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan disclosed this according to records at hospitals.
“The total number for all types of cancer is about 5,000,” he disclosed during a courtesy call by the Sarawak Breast Cancer Support Group and Pink & Teal EmpowHer on Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Hajah Fatimah Abdullah at her officer at Masja, Petra Jaya here yesterday.
“Between 500 and 600 new breast cancer cases are reported in Sarawak every year. The number one cancer that kills women is breast cancer, while cervical cancer is the numbar two most common cancer that kills women,” Dr Abigail Jerip, founding chairperson of Pink & Teal EmpowHer disclosed.
She said cervical cancer the rate is at one to two new cases every week in the gyne and radiotherapy unit and they are usually presented very late, when the kidneys have already shut down and cannot operate and the only thing doctor can give them is palliative chemotherapy.
“It is quite sad actually because cancer can be prevented,” she said, adding that there is a great disparity, 85 per cent of cervical cancer occurs in the developing world which is basically rural Sarawak. “So the statistics of cervical cancer for us is five times more than that of Singapore, Hong Kong, US, and UK, and why; it is because in developed nations, they do pap smear every month and every body must get pap smear and with pap smear cervical cancer diseases can be detected ,” she said.
“Cervical cancer can be prevented,” she said, adding that the age group for cervical cancer is they begin at age 45 to 50 years old, and the death rate peaks at 55 to 60 which is very unfortunate because at this time women are supporting their husbands and helping their children with everything and to have to deal with cancer at that age is very devastating for the family and the community.
She said in the United States if you do not get annual pap smear every year, your insurance will not cover you cervical cancer treatment because it is preventable.
Fatimah said the important message provided by the two NGOs is that if there is early examination and given early treatment, lives can be saved. That is a very important message and early examination need to be done and made available to people. Meanwhile, Fatimah disclosed the Women Day Celebration (Perayaan Hari Wanita ) this year will be held on 3 November at the Penview Convention Centre (PCC) and the theme chosen for this year’s Women Day Celebration is “Women and Wellness”. She said this celebration this year is to give recognition to healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, midwives and healthcare volunteers, NGOs and health practitioners.
“They go beyond what they do in the hospitals, in the clinic to give services to the people and reaching out to the people who are not aware of the services available and are not aware o She said: “Women Day celebration this year is to give recognition to the services they provide and to the sacrifices given by these healthcare fraternity who go beyond their official duty in providing services for the wellbeing and health of the people.
“We are indeed very lucky to have people in this area who are very committed,” she said. During the Women Day celebration there will be health exhibition, free health screening at the lobby of PCC. Beside, there will also presentation of special recognitions to the midwives of the 1950’s who had provided their services especially in the rural areas, she said. Especially, the midwives in the Baram in the 1950s, they were paid according to the number of babies they helped to deliver, she said.
“ We will present the Letter of Appreciation to this group of midwives who gave their services to the people at that particular times as best as they could in a situation that was lacking and where the facilities were not as good as it is now, where poverty was very high especially in the rural areas, ” she pointed out. She said there are 13 of these widwives that had been able to be traced and will be presented with the Letters of Appreciation. On the Hari Wanita, there will also be free pap smear tests.
