BSS

An estimated 96,000 female die each year in the country from cervical cancer due to ignorance and lack of early detection, a gynecologic oncologist said on Saturday, reports BSS.

Dr Khoorsheed Jahan Maula of National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) said one in four female cancer patients suffer from cervical cancer, a disease that is almost preventable and curable if it is detected at early stage.

?An estimated 86,000 to 96,000 female cancer patients die from cervical cancer round the year in the country,? she said while speaking at the inauguration of a weeklong cervical (uterus) cancer-screening programme at a city hospital.

Bangladesh Cancer Foundation Hospital (BCFH) has organised the programme as part of its continued efforts to fight against cancer in Bangladesh, a country where an estimated 10 lakh people suffer from different types of cancer and two lakh are affected each year.

The programme will provide screening and consulting services at a subsidized rate of Taka 300 for each cervical cancer patient during the week beginning Saturday.

Each day 20 patients will be provided with the services, Secretary General of Bangladesh Cancer Foundation Dr Mohammad Habibullah Talukder told journalists.

Cervical cancer is a major cause of female deaths in the country as people have little knowledge about the disease.

Women suffer most from the disease, but cannot identify themselves as cervical cancer patients even after clear symptoms of abnormal bleeding and foul-smelling white discharge.

Dr Khoorsheed Jahan said every married woman aged 20-65 should go for cervical cancer test at least once every three years. The disease, she said, could hit any woman of reproductive and post-reproductive age. Poor women are its worst victims, she added.

She also mentioned other ways to prevent the disease. These include: not to marry before the age of 20 and not giving birth more than two children in life.

Dr AZM Zahid Hossain, who inaugurated the programme on BCFH's Lalmatia premises, said doctors, especially who are quite seniors and working at the field levels, should be given orientation about the cervical cancer.

He also opined for providing training to female medical students.

Director of NICRH Professor AMM Shariful Alam, Professor Golam Mustafa of NICRH, Dr Mosara Jahan of BCFH and Dr Ahmed Sayeed of BCFH also spoke on the occasion.