It’s a yellow week!

AS part of the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM)’s Yellow Week-”CelebrateLife!” campaign this year to raise awareness on breast cancer screening and early detection, the organisation has developed a pilot project to provide the public, especially women, the opportunity of having screening facilities through the establishment of a mobile cancer screening bus.
The mobile bus will provide facilities for mammogram, colorectal screening and an education programme for the urban and rural poor.
“It is a project that has been discussed for the past five years to provide better awareness and educate more people about the disease,” says Dr Saunthari Somasundram, the executive director of NCSM.
“Currently the charity organisation is in the process of raising funds for the project, which they want to activate as soon as possible ,’’ she says.
The total estimated cost for the urban poor mobile bus set-up will be around RM600,000, while the rural poor mobile bus is RM5mil. A huge investment, concedes Dr Saunthari, but she believes that this will help prevent the spread of cancer in the long run.
Statistics show that over 6,000 Malaysian women between the ages of 35 and 50 are diagnosed with cancer every year. The most vulnerable of these women are the urban and rural poor who do not have the opportunity to do breast cancer screening. With screening and early diagnosis, over 90% of women with breast cancer can be cured and lead a normal life.
“Early detection has saved many lives. Therefore we need to reach out to more people to create awareness and educate them. This project has been implemented in other countries successfully and we want to do the same here,’’ she says.
As a kick-start to the mobile cancer screening bus project, starting October, NCSM will ferry women from the urban poor by bus to the NCSM’s wellness and resource centre to undergo mammogram screening and educate them on the disease.
“At present, funds collected amounted to RM50,000 from the St Patrick Society of Kuala Lumpur. Once more funding trickles in, we will be able to facilitate the mobile bus, which will enable us to reach more people from the target groups,” she says, adding that while it is primarily targeted for women, the general public can also seek out information on the disease.
Dr Saunthari says that the mobile bus units will have a full-time staff on board to run the screening programme and provide correct information on early detection of the disease. As for fees charged, Dr Saunthari says the NCSM hopes to provide free treatments for the public, but this will depend on the amount of funding allocated for the project by the sponsors.
“We need to get funding from corporations on a long-term basis, if possible. Otherwise the patients will be charged a subsidised amount to cover the running costs of the mobile bus,’’ she says.
The mobile cancer screening bus for the urban poor will be using a similar system that has been successfully implemented in Singapore and other countries. The public will be able to go for a screening for early detection and simultaneously get educated about the disease.
Once screened, they will get the test results within a week. The NCSM mobile bus will be working together with clinics and community centres in the respective urban areas to provide patients easy access to go for their screening.
“Meanwhile, a bigger allocation (RM5mil) is needed for the rural poor because a digital mammogram machine will be used for screening. This will give the patients immediate test results without any delay,’’ says Dr Saunthari adding that a digital machine costs RM2mil.
“The use of this digital machine in rural areas, says Dr Saunthari, will help the public seek medical attention quickly without delay. There will also be more medical personnel at hand to provide services for the rural poor.
“We are taking this approach so that they don’t wait to go for treatment, which is usually the case for those in rural areas,’’ she points out.
The NCSM’s Yellow Week campaign is from September 12 until 18, with a series of “CelebrateLife!” events and activities that include a dinner concert, wear yellow day, cancer expo and golf tournament to create cancer awareness among the public and raise funds for the organisation.
For more information, contact the NCSM at 03-2698 7300 or fax 03-2698 4300.
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