Urgent need for mobile mammography unit

IWRITE in reference to an advertisement in yesterday’s Gleaner, June 27, on page B2, concerning an article on the Jamaica Cancer Society’s (JCS) community outreach programme in St Ann, where they have established a partnership with a group from North Carolina called Pink Smile Promise.

Together they are providing 100 vulnerable women with free mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies and treatment, where necessary. Once again, the work of the JCS is to be commended as they work tirelessly to serve the underserved and to bring hope to so many Jamaican families who would otherwise have no support at all.

Of significant importance is the fact that the JCS has, over the years, provided facilities at their head and regional offices to assist both men and women to have their screening done at affordable costs.

Over the last 15 years, the JCS has operated a mobile mammography unit in underserved communities in rural Jamaica. This unit is now in almost total disrepair and is in need of replacement. This unit, when it was up and running, performed approximately 2,000 mammograms annually.

It is my understanding that there is no such unit in the public sector. Therefore, annually, a minimum of 2,000 Jamaican women are at an increased risk for being diagnosed with breast cancer at a late stage, where it becomes a significant challenge not only on the diagnosed, but also on the family unit, as most of these women cannot afford the cost of this procedure in the private sector.

I am very well aware of the high cost of treating cancer. For most of us, it is virtually unaffordable, and more so for those without health insurance, as it was in my case. The JCS is in critical need of funding in general and to replace the brokendown mammography unit in particular, but it does not have the funds, and time is of the essence. The old unit was donated in 2001 by Scotiabank Jamaica and can no longer function.

I throw out a challenge to our private sector in general and specifically to our banks, whether as an individual response or a joint response, to help to fund the JCS in general and to specifically fund this most important and critical unit (the new mobile mammography unit) in the fight against breast cancer.

We all have a role to play in this fight against cancer; that is why it is critical to support the JCS as they lead this charge. Again, I appeal to the banks to help in saving lives by helping the JCS to continue to make cancerscreening services accessible to all Jamaicans.