First lady calls for maximum awareness on breast cancer to reduce its death rate

ISLAMABAD: First Lady Begum Samina Alvi said that one out of nine women in Pakistan is diagnosed with breast cancer and fifty percent of patients of this disease die due to late diagnosis and stressed for creating maximum awareness in women about this issue to reduce its death rate in the country.
She said that many countries have achieved 99 percent recovery rate and 80 percent survival rate of breast cancer patients by creating better awareness in society and we must work on similar lines to cope with this issue.
She said that awareness sessions on breast cancer should be organized throughout the year instead of just in October so that maximum women can be sensitized about the causes and treatment of this disease.
She said this while addressing as Chief Guest at an awareness session on breast cancer organized by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was attended by many women from various walks of life.
Begum Samina Alvi said that every woman should spare 5 minutes for health and self-examination. She said that she has been patronizing this campaign for the last 4 years due to which an increasing number of breast cancer patients are now coming forward for check-ups during the first and the second stage of this disease.
She said that society should support breast cancer patients, which is very important for recovery. She said that 13 hospitals in Karachi, 8 in Punjab, 5 in KPK are providing free treatment to breast patients and more are needed to make its treatment affordable for low-income patients. She thanked the private sector, medical universities, media and others for supporting the awareness campaign on breast cancer. -NNI