Miri joins fight against cervical cancer with ROSE
MIRI: The Removing Obstacles to Cervical Screening ( ROSE) programme was launched in Miri on Saturday. The programme promises an easy, fast and less intrusive method for women to detect cervical cancer.
It combines self-diagnosis, Human Papillomavirus ( HPV) vaccination testing and the use of digital platforms.
A special advisor in the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office Datuk Seri Hafsah Harun officiated the programme which was jointly organised by Miri Parliamentary Service Centre and ROSE developers from Universiti Malaya (UM), VCS Foundation (VCSF) of Australia and local associations.
Present at the event yesterday was Miri MP Dr Michael Teo and experts including Professor Dr Woo Yin Ling, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at UM who is the lead consultant of the project and Dr. Yolanda, Oncology Research Fellow from St. Georges University of London.
Hafsah praised Teo and his team for pioneering ROSE in Sarawak.
“Currently, there are still many women particularly in rural Sarawak suffering from cervical cancer who believed that they had the disease due to black magic.
We need more women to educate ourselves and as politicians our duties are not merely to campaign to win votes but also to educate the people in the longhouses to become better and healthier citizens,” she said.
She assured that she will also bring the ROSE team to Kuching for a similar screening.
Meanwhile, Teo related his own experience as a gynaecologist concerning cervical cancer.
“My clinic had been in existence for about forty years and it is very sad that I have attended to many cases of cervical cancer patients who only came at stage 3 – 4,” he said.
In a month on average, he estimated, one cervical cancer and one suspect case was detected in his clinic. He expressed the hope that the new technology will not only be fully adopted in the country but also in the world.
He assured that the ROSE programme will be extended to cover more people not only in Miri but also to other areas and even remote areas like Belaga.
Yolanda and Woo also spoke at the function and later at the joint press conference.
Yolanda, who said the Malaysian government is targetting to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, thanked the local associations for bringing over 120 women for screening at Teo’s clinic.
Woo, meanwhile, thanked Teo for inviting the ROSE team to Miri which is their first destination in Sarawak.
“With ROSE women only needed to take the HPV test twice in their lifetime to screen for cervical cancer, compared to 15 times for pap smears,” said Woo.
She revealed that the HPV test under the ROSE system is self-administered with results sent to women’s mobile phones between one to two weeks unlike the conventional pap smears conducted by a health professional.
This helps to eliminate shame, fears and uneasiness among women when conducting the screening, she said.