PESHAWAR: Oncologists have called for creating more awareness among the population of the preventive measures to put brakes on avoidable causes of breast cancer, which is the most prevalent type of cancer in women of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Speaking at a one-day seminar aimed at scaling up public awareness of breast cancer at Khyber Girls Medical College (KGMC) here on Thursday, director Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicines (Irnum) Dr Rauf Khattak said that preventive measures could reduce cases of cancers if the patients consulted right doctors at the right time.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a total of 10 oncologists whereas the number of patients is going up, he said.

According to Dr Khattak, of the 5,100 patients of different kinds of cancer who visited Irnum, 677 suffered from breast cancer and 33 per cent of them belonged to Fata. He advised women to go for regular check-ups to stay safe from breast cancer. On this occasion, students from different medical colleges made presentations on breast cancer and the relevant preventive steps.

Senior minister for health Shahram Khan Tarakai, who was chief guest on the occasion, stressed the need for holding awareness events in schools, colleges and universities so that students could be engaged in fight against breast cancer.

“As we all agree that cancer is a dangerous disease, we should all join forces to work hard and cope with the burden of preventable ailments,” he said.

Mr Tarakai said that the government was aware of its responsibility and wanted to educate people on cancers and other ailments because prevention was better than cure. Awareness at the community level could make a real difference, he said.

The senior minister asked the students to serve people after graduation as there was a severe shortage of doctors for women. He said that shortage of female doctors in hospitals across the province had been affecting treatment of women patients to a desired level. He said that there was no dearth of money and only proper management was needed.

He said that vaccination in some parts of Fata was previously not possible, but now the displaced children had got an opportunity to be immunised in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa districts where they were currently staying.

Mr Tarakai said that not only the provinces, but the centre should also focus on polio vaccination. He also said that they had made preparations to prevent spread of Ebola virus in the province.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014