Campaign on early detection of breast cancer from Sept

MUSCAT: The Ministry of Health (MOH), represented by the Women and Child Health Department (WCHD) and in collaboration with the Oman Cancer Association (OCA) and Hoffmann–la Roche Company, held a meeting to prepare for the National Campaign for Early Detection of Breast Cancer on Tuesday.

The campaign will be launched over all the governorates from September until March 2019.

It will provide breast-screening service for women aged between 40 to 69, through the mammogram mobile unit.

The meeting was aimed to review the plans of the campaigns, which were prepared by the teams formed according to their respective governorate for discussions.

During the campaign, a number of community events and awareness sessions, as well as training workshops for the surgeons in the referral hospitals in the governorates, will be organised on the importance of early detection of breast cancer.

The doctors and nurses will be trained at the primary healthcare centres.

During the meeting, Dr Fatima al Hinai, WCHD Director, touched on the current status of breast cancer in the Sultanate, Gulf countries and the world, where it is ranked first among ten types of cancers.

She also addressed the standards that will be implemented through the campaign.

Dr Taha al Lawati, OCA, stressed the importance of early and periodical detection and pointed out the most important activities of the OCA mobile mammogram.

A number of MOH staff from the Education and Health Awareness Department and Non-communicable Diseases Department along with participants from the departments concerned in the governorates attended the meeting.