A year-long people’s campaign for early screening and detection of cancer, titled Arogyam Anandam-Keep Cancers Away, spearheaded by the Health department, in collaboration with cancer treatment facilities in both private and public sector, will get under way across Kerala on February 4, World Cancer Day.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will launch the campaign, which primarily focusses on encouraging people to come forward for early cancer screening and follow-up treatment so that the mortality and morbidity due to cancers in the State can be reduced.
Actor Manju Warrier will be the goodwill ambassador for the campaign, Health Minister Veena George said here on Monday, while addressing a press conference.
Fight against fear
Ms. George said that the first war was against the fear generated by cancer and the misconception that a cancer diagnosis was akin to a death sentence. Bringing in a behavioural change in people, encouraging them to prioritise health and persuading all persons above 30 years to undergo annual cancer screening were the primary focal points of the campaign.
Not just cancer hospitals, cooperative sector, NGOs, voluntary organisations and women’s groups were all joining hands with the government in taking the campaign to the grassroots.
Cancers in women
While the campaign targeted everyone, the first one month of the campaign, from February 4 to March 8, would be dedicated for cancers in women, especially cancers of the breast and cervix, which were amenable to possible cure, if detected and treated early.
Preliminary cancer screening would be available in all 855 health centres across 14 districts and anyone who might require further tests would be followed up and given specific dates and appointment for them to do the tests. Health workers would follow up cases and encourage people not to drop out in case they required to undergo more tests.
Ms. George said that though the annual population-based health screening done across the State using the Shylee app had picked out nine lakh people to be at high risk of developing cancers, only 1.5 lakh persons had been willing to come forward for further tests and follow-up treatment. This meant that fear of a cancer diagnosis and fear of disruption to life and routine had led people to ignore the early warning signals.
Hence more awareness was needed to make people understand that cancer mortality was mostly due to people coming in for treatment at late stages of the disease. Cancer screening would be entirely free for the BPL category while others would have the benefit of subsidised rates.
Ms. George said that the government was in talks with private laboratories so that a standardisation in rates could be arrived at for various tests and screening modalities.
Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajan Khobragade and NCD State Nodal Officer Bipin Gopal were also present.
Published – February 03, 2025 09:19 pm IST