PGI first hosp in UP to get HPV test facility for cervical cancer

LUCKNOW: The Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS) has become the first hospital in Uttar Pradesh to launch HPV testing for cervical cancer screening . Department of molecular medicine and biotechnology, SGPGI, organised an inaugural ceremony to launch the molecular HPV testing facility on Saturday.

UP minister Swati Singh, chief guest, appreciated the initiative taken by the department to help cervical cancer screening in the region and congratulated the department head, Dr Swasti Tiwari.

While praising the department’s efforts, she said, “The government recognises the efforts and promises to support such initiatives and endeavours in future also”.

In her address, Dr Tiwari said, “Early detection of cancer is the first step to cure this dreaded disease. HPV infection is the cause of almost all cervical cancers and screening can reduce the incidence and mortality.”

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HPV infection is the cause of almost all cervical cancers and screening can reduce the incidence and mortality SWATI SINGH, UP minister

She added that the incidence of cervical cancer in UP needed to be reported under national cancer registry. “With the launch of the HPV testing facility, we hope that in coming years we get prevalence data for our region and have an impact on the preventive strategies to reduce incidence of cervical cancer in UP.”

Senior gynecologist at SGPGI, Dr Deepa Kapoor congratulated the department at the successful launch of this facility and said, “The launch of this facility at SGPGI is the need of the hour”. She added, “from Lucknow area itself, we are getting referrals in large numbers for opportunistic HPV screening but were unable to test for HPV DNA so far due to non-availability of this test at SGPGI .”

The other dignitaries who attended this event were Prof. S P Jaiswar (KGMU) and Dr Arlin Hilly (Civil hospital), Dr Ragini Gupta (BMC Turiya Ganj), and Dr Manju Chaurasia (BMC, Aishbagh).

During the CME workshop, the significance of HPV screening in oncological management and the available methodology for screening were discussed. CME speaker Prof Shalini Singh, radiotherapist at SGPGI, discussed the HPV infection associated cancers.

“Besides cervical cancer, HPV infection has now also been associated with other anogenital and head and neck cancers,” she said. Dr Anju Rani, senior gynaecologist at SGPGI, talked about the cervical cancer screening programmes and their impact on clinical management. She also briefed the audience about the preventive strategies .

The CME workshop was attended by a large number of associated health care professional from across the city, oncologists and gynaecologists from both government and private hospitals.