Watch out for health clinics on wheels

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: More Malaysians will have access to reproductive health services with the introduction of mobile clinics.
The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has bought the first of several specially designed buses, which will travel around the country offering several services.
They are family planning services, screening packages for the elderly, counselling on reproductive health for men and women, health screenings such as BMI and blood pressure readings, demonstrations of breast self-examination and pap smears.
Ministry parliamentary secretary Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun said this is the first service of its kind in the country.
In Perak, the mobile clinic will be operated by the National Population and Family Planning Board.
She said six more mobile clinics will be acquired for the other states in the peninsula.
"Every year, the ministry will provide free health screening for a week at all Family Planning clinics in commemoration of Mother’s Day in May," she said, when opening a public forum on women’s health supported by her ministry.
Chew said reproductive cancer is on the rise among Malaysian women. Breast cancer is the leading cause of women’s cancer deaths, followed by cervical cancer.
In a 2003 study of married women aged 20 to 65, the Board found that many women were unaware of the importance of a pap smear to screen for cervical cancer.
Close to a quarter did not think it was necessary because they felt no pain.
About one in five said they were too busy, while the fear of pain and shyness were both cited by 10 per cent of the women surveyed.
Some 20.3 per cent of the women involved in the study said they had never even heard of pap smear tests.
"Various risk factors have been linked to the incidence of cervical cancer.
"They are old age, low socio-economic status, multiple partners, age of first sexual encounter and the history of sexually transmitted diseases especially in Human Papilloma Viral (HPV) infection.
"But it is a fact that 99 per cent of cervical cancer is caused by HPV infection."