Timely diagnosis of Cancer is Key: Governor Sindh

By Our Staff Reporter

Karachi: The Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat ul Ebad Khan said that timely diagnosis of Cancer was of utmost importance for its cure and making the patient completely healthy.

This he said while talking to Rick Rippen, the representative of company providing and installing a cyclotron unit at Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC), at Governor House. Advisor to Governor Sindh Prof Naushad  Ahmed Shaikh and Aijaz Mirza were also present on the occasion.

Governor Sindh said that this most advanced cyclotron unit help in identifying precise part of the body having cancer affected cells. A budget has already been allocated for the procurement and installation of this unit at JPMC, he added

Dr Ebad said that due to non-availability of pet scan and cyclotron at any public sector hospital cancer patients were suffering badly. The ratio of deaths in cancer patients was alarmingly high as chemotherapy and radiation treatment also affect healthy parts of the body alongside cancer hit portions, he opined. He said that due to chemotherapy and radiation many complexities are also witnessed in patients. It was also very unfortunate that in majority of cancer patient it is discovered at the last stage when it becomes almost incurable, he added

He further said that according to a research every 5thperson of our population is at risk of having some kind of cancer. The main reason of rapid spread of different types of cancer ,specially in women and children was unawareness about the disease and precautionary measures about the same, he observed

He said health department should focus on this and media should be involved in short public service awareness messages about the disease as it could influence and motivate masses more effectively.

Tick Rippen while informing Governor Sindh about the Cyclotron said that it is a state of the art unit which occupieslimited space and relatively easy to handle and operate as compared to conventional cyclotrons. The main feature of this machine is that it work on the principle of dose on demand and hence it wastage ratio is near to zero, he added
He further informed that presently this facility is available only in two hospitals of private sector but none of public sector hospital has this unit and by July this year JPMC would be the first public sector health facility to be in possession of this machine.