by Simon Ushie
The wife of the Cross River State Governor and the President/Founder of Mediatrix Development Foundation, Dr. Linda Ayade has disclosed that her organization in collaboration with the Cross River State Government have identified 30 women across the three Senatorial districts of the State with various stages of breast cancer in the past one month.
Dr. Ayade made the declaration at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital during the annual flag of the the 2020 breast cancer awareness month and service provision organized by the Breast Imaging Society of Nigeria( BISON) aimed at reaching out to to women and men in the state to create cancer management and prevention strategies to beat the growing incidences of breast cancer in Cross River State.
Dr Ayade said, her organization and her office having identified the essence of early detection, partnered with the state government through the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency to move into Communities working side by side with local media agents to draw people into checking for lumps in their breasts which was successful, and 30 patients have been identified and referrals made for advanced procedures on the patients.
She pledged to be more committed in 2021 to sensitize more women “We hope to work closely with you all in 2021 and get more women sensitized, screened and treated on the various stages of breast cancer”.
On her part, the Director General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency Dr Janet Ekpenyong said, the month has offered her Agency the opportunity to improve upon some services especially breast cancer check through various trainings and workshops organized by partners like BISON with visible results been recorded.
She said henceforth, every woman who visit any of the primary health care centres across the state will be subjected to compulsory breast check to halt the increasing figures of new cases and deaths.
Head of the Breast Imaging Society of Nigeria (BISON), Cross River State Chapter, Dr Ofonime Ukweh, maintained that “though, all through the phase of Covid19, breast cancer remains the leading cause of death globally with over 600,000 deaths in 2018 alone”
Dr Ukweh further called for a shift of attention from the consideration or believe that Breast Cancer is peculiar to the female gender alone, she calls on men at all ages and profession to present themselves for regular breast check in teaching hospitals across the country, with BISON ready to support patients who are diagnosed of cancer.
She used the opportunity to call on all people to have an improved lifestyle through proper diating and regular exercise as well self and frequent check.
She averred that the group in the past five years have seen them offer services including world class breast imaging, image guided intervention and research following best global practices.
