PESHAWAR: Prof Rashid Mahmood, president of the Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has urged federal and provincial governments to take immediate steps to improve breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, citing alarming findings from World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Status Report on Cancer 2026.

Sharing details with media persons at Peshawar Press club on Saturday, he expressed concern over the report, which says women in Pakistan face an average delay of 111.5 days between the diagnosis of breast cancer and the start of treatment.

He said such prolonged delays significantly reduce patients’ chances of survival and can prove life-threatening.

Prof Mahmood attributed the delays to the lack of breast cancer screening facilities at Basic Health Units (BHUs), low public awareness and shortages of cancer medicines and radiotherapy equipment.

He noted that survival rates for breast cancer patients exceed 85 per cent in many developed countries due to early diagnosis and timely treatment, whereas Pakistan’s survival rate remains below 30 per cent.

He urged the government to establish free breast cancer screening and diagnostic centres at the district and tehsil levels, reduce the interval between diagnosis and treatment to less than 60 days in line with international standards, ensure an uninterrupted supply of cancer medicines to public hospitals.

Prof Mahmood said delays in diagnosis and treatment were killing many women and that women’s health should be treated as a national priority rather than addressed through routine measures.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2026