ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: The government plans to establish breast screening centres in five major public hospitals in the country to provide free mammography and screening services to women.

An official source told Dawn that breast screening centres would be established in all major public hospitals — Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), Islamabad; Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi; Sheikh Zayed Medical Complex, Lahore; Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Federal Hospital, Quetta and the Federal Government Medical Centre, Peshawar.

Breast screening helps in detecting cancers at an early stage when tumour is small and not felt by women.

Recently, Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan had also announced to initiate Rs2.55 billion national programme for early detection and treatment of breast cancer in the country.

A study conducted by the Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) showed that the incidence of cancer among women was on the rise as 33 per cent of all female patients visiting the institute were suffering from breast cancer.

Similarly, Pink Ribbon National Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign is also advocating that Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia which accounts for 40,000 deaths per year.