1st specialised unit for breast cancer patients inaugurated

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai on Wednesday announced allocation of additional funds for existing Sehat Sahulat Card holders for facilitating breast cancer patients.

It will be in addition to the treatment amount which already is present in the Sehat Sahulat Card.

The minister was speaking at a function after inaugurating a first ever specialised unit of breast cancer patients at the Rehman Medical Institute (RMI) Peshawar.

According to staff of the unit, it is first ever facility in both the public and private sector which will facilitate patients suffering from the deadly disease.

Shahram Khan stressed the importance of such specialised services for breast cancer patients and appreciated efforts of private sector particularly the pioneer of the RMI which is pioneer in the private medical sector RMI efforts to be a pioneering private sector in provision of a diverse and quality services to the patients.

The concept of “one-stop Breast Care Unit” was explained by Dr. Amjad Ali (Assistant Professor and Consultant Oncoplastic & Reconstructive Breast & General Surgeon) to the participants. He said it was a single place where a patient is received, screened, diagnosed, operated upon and reconstruction performed, if needed.

He claimed that no other unit existed in the province where a patient received end-to-end treatment in the hands of professional experts.

Breast cancer patients usually suffer in seeking treatment as different phases of the treatment are located in different locations.

A patient usually has to get mammography done from one place, ultra sound from another and diagnosis from another.

He said RMIs Breast Care Unit offers all of these services and more (such as reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries) within the same department.

Dr Amjad Ali said that the management protocols were all according to International guidelines and RMI would offer the same global standards for treatment and the same surgical procedures to our patients as are offered to patients who choose to have their treatment abroad.

Chief executive officer of RMI Shafiqur Rehman announced free of cost Mammography at the Breast Care Unit for one month.

According to statistics by WHO, 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life.

This is a very alarming figure and according to population estimates, there are approximately 100,000 new breast cancer cases in Pakistan every year, and approximately 15,000 of these emerge in KP.

A significant number of these patients do not seek any medical help. Whereas, most of the patients who do consult a doctor, are too late and the cancer unfortunately spreads even further into the body causing irreversible damage.

Stress was exerted on the need of annual screening for women who are aged 40 years and above as they are more susceptible to develop this fatal disease.

Annual screening helps detects any developing tumor on time and significantly increases the chances of successful and on-time treatment.