‘20 women die of cervical cancer in Pakistan daily’

Around 20 women die of vaccine-preventable cervical cancer in Pakistan every day. It was the second most deadly kind of cancer, after breast cancer, to claim women’s lives in the country, observed renowned gynaecologist Dr Shershah Syed while addressing a press conference held in connection with the annual World Cancer Day, on Wednesday.

He claimed that cervical cancer was different from other all the types of the disease since it was caused by a sexually transmitted virus, known as Human Papillomavirus.

“Fortunately, it can be done away with through getting vaccinated against it, but unfortunately there was not much awareness regarding it in Pakistan,” Dr Shah added.

The panellists belonging comprising of variety of medical practitioners called for the authorities to declare a ‘war’ against cervical and other kinds of cancers in the country.

They called for the people to get themselves screened regularly and seek treatment at the earliest if diagnosed with any type of cancer.

Unhealthy lifestyle, poor intake of nutrition, rapid and unplanned urbanisation were identified as some of the key factors behind growing cases of cancer among people, specifically those belonging to lower class, claimed medical practitioners while speaking at another seminar organised at the Arts Council Karachi.

If the authorities continued to ignore the rising number of cancer deaths, nine million people were estimated to be at a risk of losing their lives to the disease in the developing world only, warned medical experts.

More than two third of cancer patients in developing countries were diagnosed at a very late stage of disease, when treatment was no longer effective, they claimed.

Apprising the audience of sufferings of a breast cancer patient, Prof Rufina Soomro of the Liaquat National Hospital said Pakistan had the highest number of breast cancer cases reported in Asia.

“Best prevention from the disease is early diagnosis and adequate treatment as it would not lead to removal of the entire breast but would be contained effectively,” she observed.

Presiding over the seminar, Senator Haseeb Khan deplored the status of health and urged people to prioritise taking care of their health. Director Health Karachi Dr Zafar Aijaz, Dr Essa’s laboratories vice chairman Dr Sabeeha Essa and Dr Farhan Essa also spoke at the event.

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