FOGSI organises nationwide cervical, breast cancer screening camp for women police, CRPF across India

The camps were conducted at over 350 centres through 210 FOGSIs 258 affiliated societies

Over 70,000 women police and CRPF across India were screened as part of the nationwide cervical and breast cancer screening organised by The Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8.

The camps were conducted at over 350 centres through 210 FOGSIs 258 affiliated societies. Major centres included Mumbai (12 centres), Bengaluru (7 centres), Ahmedabad (7 centres) and all the states across India including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and others.

“While thousands of women from police and CRPF attended the cancer screening camps, we also realised that there is a tremendous fear of death associated with cancer. Nearly 80 per cent of women were unaware of the importance of cancer screening, vaccination for cervical cancer, causes and prevention and the fact that it is curable. Many were also uninformed about the right age and the frequency of cancer screening,” said Dr Alpesh Gandhi, President, FOGSI.

“Our objective is to create the awareness that early detection is key to diagnosing cancers before it’s too late. When women are diagnosed in the advanced stages, we cannot save them. Women should not be ignorant of cervical cancer symptoms such as bleeding in between periods and after sexual intercourse, foul smelling white discharge etc. Breast cancer symptoms such as lump in the breast, bloody discharge from the nipple and changes in the shape or texture of the nipple or breast should be examined without delay,” added Dr Gandhi.

While speaking about the observations made at the camp Dr Anita Singh, Vice President, FOGSI added, “Approximately 5-8 per cent of the cases had abnormalities. Patients with suspicious or positive reports will be referred to higher centres for further confirmation and management once we have pap smear reports for cervical cancer. Suspicious or unusual breast cancer cases have already been referred for sonography and mammography.”

“Such efforts result in early and timely detection which is so very important in the treatment and effective management of cancer. Such campaigns definitely mitigate an impending crisis of an unaware woman,” said S Mayank, IG & Principal Chief Commissioner, RPF East Central Railway.

The initiative was supported by ISCCP (Indian Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology), local Rotary clubs, Brahma Kumaris, various NGOs as well as DGP, DGI, CRPF heads, police commissioners, and local police welfare organisations.