Makna drops plan for house calls

Star: PETALING JAYA: National Cancer Council (Makna) mobile units will cover districts as a whole under its early cancer detection campaign and not make house-to-house visits.
Makna president Datuk Mohd Farid Ariffin said the mobile units would focus on rural areas around the country to help detect cancer of the prostate, breast, stomach and cervix among the people.
“We plan to launch this initiative, which has taken at least two years to plan, as early as February.
“Equipment to carry out this early detection is being acquired with technical assistance from foreign consultants,” he told The Star yesterday.
Mohd Farid, who is a former deputy health minister, said the campaign would also focus on educating and creating awareness among the public on the advantages of early detection.
“We will carry out tests on both men and women for the four types of cancer. Cervical and breast cancer cases are high among women,” he said.
He said Makna welcomed any assistance for the campaign from all parties concerned over cancer cases, when asked whether Makna would be working with the Health Ministry on this initiative.
On Monday, Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek asked Makna to review its early cancer detection campaign, which would purportedly include going house to house, an exercise deemed to be contrary to medical ethics.
Dr Chua said Makna should get the ministry’s advice before embarking on such a campaign to ensure it would not cause unnecessary worry and confusion among the public.